Alaska Providers Say Work Remains on Maps for Mobile Coverage
Alaskan carriers told the FCC that the agency appears to be on the right track with the eligible-areas map and the draft performance plan template for the Alaska Connect Fund, though they suggested that further changes are needed. The map is viewed as critical to mobile support in the state. Reply comments were posted Thursday in docket 23-328.
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GCI said the FCC has been quick to address industry concerns, though questions remain. Several key issues must be resolved before providers can offer “complete and final comment on the Map, including on potential untestable and additional coverage areas,” the company said. While the updated map corrected some errors that GCI and others identified, “it failed to resolve all of them” and introduced changes that “GCI is still working to understand.”
The FCC is making progress on the map and “related processes,” said the Alaska Telecom Association, which welcomed the release of additional information and answers to FAQs. However, the group said it remains unclear when the results of any additional broadband data collection will be reflected in the map and how “identification (at this time or later) of areas served without population could impact ACF mobile support.”
Cordova Wireless said that while the Wireless Bureau is making progress on mapping, it hasn’t provided “legally sufficient information to enable meaningful comment.” The public can’t “provide comment on proposed rules when such rules have yet to be released.”