The Federal Communications Commission’s broadband report is being hammered by critics who say it paints too rosy a picture of high-speed internet availability in the U.S.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia joined two dissenting FCC commissioners in criticizing the report released Wednesday.

The FCC’s annual Broadband Deployment Report says the country’s digital divide has “narrowed substantially,” with the number of Americans without broadband dropping more than 18%, to 21.3 million people, between 2016 and 2017. The majority of the gains were for people living in rural parts of the country, according to the report.

Source: FCC

According to the FCC:

  • The number of Americans lacking access to a terrestrial fixed broadband connection meeting the FCC’s benchmark of at least 25 Mbps/3 Mbps has dropped from 26.1 million Americans at the end of 2016 to 21.3 million Americans at the end of 2017, a decrease of more than 18%.
  • The majority of those gaining access to such connections, approximately 4.3 million, are in rural America.
  • Higher-speed services are being deployed at a rapid rate as well:  The number of Americans with access to at least 250 Mbps/25 Mbps broadband grew in 2017 by more than 36%, to 191.5 million.
  • The number of rural Americans with access to such broadband increased by 85.1% in 2017.
  • Broadband providers large and small deployed fiber networks to 5.9 million new homes in 2018, the largest number ever recorded.
  • ·Capital expenditures by broadband providers increased in 2017, reversing the declines of both 2015 and 2016.

“Based on this and other evidence, the report finds for a second consecutive year that advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed on a reasonable and timely basis,” the FCC said. “However, the FCC remains committed to ensuring that all Americans, including those in rural areas, Tribal lands, and disaster-affected areas, have the benefits of a high-speed broadband connection.”

The problem (and the solution) with mapping broadband in North Carolina

The agency’s two Democratic commissioners issued dissenting statements along with the report that said it was at odds with the reality of internet availability on the ground.

“This report deserves a failing grade,” Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel wrote. “It concludes that broadband deployment is reasonable and timely throughout the United States. This will come as news to millions and millions of Americans who lack access to high-speed service at home.”

The FCC’s data collection methods have been routinely labeled as flawed. The commission considers an entire area covered if a service provider reports that a single location on a census block has or could have fast internet speeds.

Efforts are underway in North Carolina, for example, to improve the mapping of broadband availability.

Commissioner Geoffrey Starks wrote that the agency should change its data collection policies, pointing out that a draft version of the report was found to have overstated broadband connections in an area where about 62 million people live.

New study challenges value of municipal fiber networks – but with caveats

“If you are 10 steps away from your goal and you move a step-and-a -half forward, you don’t have a victory party when your work isn’t done,” Starks said.

Manchin, who has been a frequent critic of the FCC and has introduced legislation to improve coverage data, issued a statement pushing the agency for more accurate baselines.

“It’s impossible to fill gaps, if you don’t know they are there,” he said.