On Tuesday, Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) questioned the FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel on broadband maps durign a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing.
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00:00of the subcommittee, who is a member of the full committee.
00:05Thank you, Chair Lata and Ranking Member Matsui
00:07for holding this hearing, and the chair and commissioners
00:11for your service in being here today.
00:13Before I go on with my questioning,
00:15Chair Rosenworcel, I think you wanted
00:17to make a statement in response to the AI issue yet.
00:22I just think transparency is a good thing.
00:24Disclosing when AI use is a good thing,
00:26and the FCC has authority in this area
00:28and has had authority since the 1930s.
00:31Throughout my tenure in Congress,
00:33I have championed efforts to extend broadband access
00:37to unserved and underserved areas.
00:39Last Congress, I was proud to support
00:40the bipartisan infrastructure law, which
00:43allocated over $42 billion for high-speed broadband
00:46deployment nationwide.
00:48With these historic investments, accurate broadband maps
00:51are essential for the equitable and effective allocation
00:54of federal funds.
00:55Chairman Worsel, I appreciated your work
00:58on behalf of my district, visiting the district
01:01and listening carefully to what my constituents
01:04had to say about this issue, and I
01:06appreciate your written testimony
01:07on the national broadband map and commend
01:09the FCC for the substantial progress made
01:12in updating these maps over the past few years.
01:15However, in the capital region of New York,
01:17we are still seeing the effects of unreliable data.
01:19Communities often struggle with slow speeds,
01:22unreliable connections, or no service,
01:25despite being designated as having access.
01:28This disparity can hamper economic development
01:31and perpetuate systemic inequalities,
01:33widening the digital divide.
01:35So can you speak, please, Commissioner, Chair?
01:38Can you speak to how the FCC is incorporating
01:42consumer-reported data on broadband availability
01:45and quality into its mapping efforts
01:47and the role public feedback plays in efforts
01:49to refine our broadband maps?
01:53Yeah, public feedback is so important.
01:56We built maps based on the Broadband Data Act,
01:58which was bipartisan work of this committee.
02:01Those maps are light years ahead of anything
02:03we've ever had before, and they're iterative.
02:05They're improving all the time.
02:07The primary way that they improve
02:09is when consumers and state and local officials
02:12go onto that website and register a complaint
02:16or a criticism that says, you say there's service here,
02:18I'm standing right in that location, and no, there's not.
02:21I would encourage you to encourage your constituents
02:23to work with that map, and I'd be happy to set up times
02:26for them to discuss it with our broadband mapping team,
02:29because I know feedback from local individuals
02:31is the way we get this data right.
02:33Thank you so much.
02:33And can you discuss how the FCC collaborates
02:36with other federal agencies, state governments,
02:38and industry stakeholders
02:40to streamline broadband mapping efforts
02:42and ensure a cohesive approach
02:45to improving nationwide broadband access?
02:47Yeah, it's a really, really big task to be candid with you.
02:51When I got to the agency and I took over,
02:53one of the first things I did was said,
02:54okay, we're gonna do better maps, and then I studied it,
02:57and I instantly understood why nobody had done it before.
03:00We had to build a data set of tax records,
03:03property records, satellite images
03:05that indicated where every single household
03:07is in the United States.
03:08And then we had to build a system
03:10that was capable of taking in data from all of our carriers
03:13and then feedback and crowdsourced information
03:15from local, state, tribal, and consumers,
03:18all telling us what's going on.
03:21The system right now is terrific.
03:23We've got 115 million households
03:26that we indicate where broadband is.
03:28We know that in six million of them, it is not present,
03:31but it can always be improved.
03:33That's why we update it every six months.
03:35And coming out this week, in fact,
03:37is another rulemaking from the FCC
03:39that all my colleagues supported,
03:40which asks questions about
03:42how we improve this process further
03:43to make sure we take into account
03:46smarter approaches to things like fixed wireless
03:49and technologies that may not have been at the forefront
03:51when the Broadband Data Act was passed by this committee.
03:54Additionally, earlier this year,
03:55I was pleased to see your proposal
03:57to improve routing for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
04:01As a co-lead of the bipartisan 988 Lifeline Improvement Act,
04:05I am committed to ensuring that callers in crisis
04:08receive access to locally relevant mental health resources.
04:12In May, the KFF released an analysis
04:15of the utilization of 988's Suicide and Crisis Lifeline's
04:19LGBTQ service, showing that 10% of all 988 outreach
04:24was made via the LGBTQ service,
04:27but only 20% of LGBTQ adults
04:30were even aware of the 988 service.
04:32So, could you discuss any initiatives
04:34the FCC is undertaking to raise public awareness
04:37about the availability and purpose of 988,
04:40especially among vulnerable populations
04:42that may benefit most from the service?
04:46Yeah, well, first things first,
04:47we are seeing substantial increases in the use of 988,
04:50this simple three-digit number.
04:52More people understand it, more people know about it.
04:54We're getting many more calls than we previously did
04:57under the 10-digit number.
04:58That was hard for folks to remember.
05:01We're gonna have to work on publicizing it
05:03with mental health authorities.
05:05My colleagues and I have a lot of skills,
05:07but we are not mental health experts.
05:09So, we've been coordinating
05:10with the Health and Human Services Department
05:13and the Substance Abuse
05:14and Mental Health Services Agency there.
05:16And going forward, we're gonna work with them
05:17to make sure that calls are geo-routed.
05:20In other words, we get information off the cell tower
05:23so that when we send that 988 caller to a help center,
05:26they'll be sent to assistance that's nearby.
05:29Thank you so much, and Mr. Chair, you're back.
05:33Gentleman yields back.