Those missing addresses were like pieces of gold — because any increase in the count of poorly served areas could mean more federal dollars for broadband expansion in Pennsylvania. The authority took its appeal to the Federal Communications Commission.
Getting the FCC numbers right could've meant as much as $221 million in extra federal money for new broadband in the state, according to government figures. Moreover, the FCC has wildly exaggerated broadband coverage in the U.S. since the agency began mapping in 2008, so spotting mistakes should've been like spearfishing in a fish bowl.
But the bulk appeal fell short.
Pennsylvania's share of the $42.45 billion federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment funds will be less than before the state took up the challenges, according to new data compiled by broadband data and internet policy analyst Mike Conlow, of Washington, D.C. Distribution of the money to states is scheduled for the end of June.
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Pennsylvania is in line for $1.2 billion in BEAD funding, $49.5 million less than before the state's appeal of 50,000 sites were filed in January, Mr. Conlow found.
Broadband authority Executive Director Brandon Carson defended the authority's efforts to fix the FCC map, saying the exact amount of grant funding Pennsylvania will get won't be known for a few more weeks.
"All the estimates we're seeing now are just that, estimates," Mr. Carson said.
In addition, more than 21,000 of the 50,000 Pennsylvania unserved sites that were appealed were upheld by the FCC, Mr. Carson said. That could mean more broadband money for Pennsylvania.
But critics say that a persistent undercount of homes and businesses without an adequate connection — especially in rural areas — is at the core of the state's failure to get its fair share of broadband expansion money. McKean, Fayette and Greene were among the rural counties that either didn't question the FCC map accuracy or simply piggybacked on broader appeals by larger agencies.
Image DescriptionD.J. Drenning, chief, Robertsdale, Wood & Broad Top Volunteer Fire Co., said the lack of internet availability in many parts of Huntingdon County complicated emergency responses. (Jesse Wardarski / Post-Gazette)
Pennsylvania's map challenges were among 3.7 million filed in the U.S. before the January deadline for FCC map fixes. From those appeals, the agency revised the number of unserved areas in a new map released May 30.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is getting ready to distribute the internet expansion funds, called the latest map "the most accurate depiction of broadband availability in the FCC's history."
"The data underlying the FCC's map will help us expand access to the education, health care and economic resources that the internet provides," NTIA said in a May 30 release.
But there were few differences between the two FCC maps. Of some 114.5 million internet accessible locations in the U.S., the number of unserved sites increased just two-tenths of a percentage point in the newest map.
Things weren't much better for Pennsylvania — following the 50,000 appeals to the FCC by the broadband authority — where the percentage of addresses found with no internet connection rose just one-tenth of a percentage point to 5.57% of nearly 5 million internet accessible sites in the state, according to Mr. Conlow's analysis, which shows 93.2% of the total sites covered in Pennsylvania as of June 1.
Fallout from lackluster appeal results could continue for several years because the upcoming distribution of funds will follow flawed FCC maps, Christopher Mitchell, director of the nonprofit Community Broadband Networks at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, said in a January article.
"The fundamental problem today is the continued failure of the FCC to produce an accurate map of where internet service is available and under what conditions," he wrote in Broadband Breakfast, an online publication based in Washington D.C. "Challenges made post-January 13 will help improve the map's accuracy down the road if the FCC takes them seriously, but by then, the state BEAD allocations — a once in a generation investment in our natural telecommunications infrastructure — will have passed."
The bigger issue for Pennsylvania is the true number of addresses without internet, which could be double the official FCC figure, said Sascha Meinrath, a telecommunications specialist at Penn State University. The official FCC count of unserved locations as of May 30 was 279,085, but it could actually be as many as 600,000, he said.
"Other states did a much better job of challenging the map," Mr. Meinrath said. "We didn't devote the proper amount of resources to it."
"Everyone running things knew this," he added. "It's a huge deal."
The BEAD program pits states against each other for funding, so one state's funding gain can be another state's loss because the pot of money being allocated remains fixed.
Based on the higher number of addresses out of broadband's reach means that Pennsylvania should receive between $1.5 billion and $1.6 billion in BEAD money when the federal government begins cutting checks for each state, according to Penn State estimates. But a new report by Mr. Conlow estimated that Pennsylvania will see $1.2 billion for internet expansion, up to $400 million or 25% less than the Penn State estimate.
With each uncounted and unserved address worth $4,412 in BEAD money, the difference between the two award estimates could mean millions of dollars in lost support for critically needed Pennsylvania broadband infrastructure.
"If [Mr. Conlow's] analysis holds," Mr. Meinrath said, "we've just lost tens of millions of dollars because we haven't taken this seriously enough."
Worse, a hangover from the undercount could continue for Pennsylvanians for years. The deadline to fix the FCC map passed in January, but the broadband authority's Mr. Carson said continued updates to the map will help state officials target funding to areas most in need within Pennsylvania, a plan that some questioned.
Using the FCC numbers to prioritize spending within the state was "just outrageous," said Tom Reid, principal of Athens, Ohio-based Reid Consulting Group, which advises clients on broadband matters. Government estimates of broadband coverage are not reliable, he said.
In Ohio, for example, the FCC determined that 189,000 sites had inadequate internet access, Mr. Reid said. But the real number was 353,000 as determined by his consulting group.
"There's no mystery where broadband is and is not," he said. "We can determine that with great specificity."
Rural areas are hurt most by internet service undercounting; online access in urban areas is rarely a problem, where multiple providers compete for customers over price and services in densely populated areas, Mr. Reid said. Spotty internet service has become just another challenge for people living in small towns, which are often already burdened by high rates of drug abuse and suicide.
"Rural America is in trouble," Mr. Reid said. "America can't afford to let rural America go unstable."
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