Broadband DATA Act

II Calendar No. 345 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4229 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 17, 2019 Received; read twice and placed on the calendar AN ACT To require the Federal Communications Commission to issue rules relating to the collection of data with respect to the availability of broadband services, and for other pur- poses. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Broadband Deploy- 4 ment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘Broadband DATA Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. BROADBAND DATA. 7 The Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et 8 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4229.PCS H4229 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 HR 4229 PCS ‘‘TITLE VIII—BROADBAND DATA 1 ‘‘SEC. 801. DEFINITIONS. 2 ‘‘In this title: 3 ‘‘(1) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERV- 4 ICE.—The term ‘broadband internet access service’ 5 has the meaning given the term in section 8.1(b) of 6 title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any suc- 7 cessor regulation. 8 ‘‘(2) BROADBAND MAP.—The term ‘Broadband 9 Map’ means the map created by the Commission 10 under section 802(c)(1)(A). 11 ‘‘(3) CELL EDGE PROBABILITY.—The term ‘cell 12 edge probability’ means the likelihood that the min- 13 imum threshold download and upload speeds with 14 respect to broadband internet access service will be 15 met or exceeded at a distance from a base station 16 that is intended to indicate the ultimate edge of the 17 coverage area of a cell. 18 ‘‘(4) CELL LOADING.—The term ‘cell loading’ 19 means the percentage of the available air interface 20 resources of a base station that are used by con- 21 sumers with respect to broadband internet access 22 service. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4229.PCS H4229 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 HR 4229 PCS ‘‘(5) CLUTTER.—The term ‘clutter’ means a 1 natural or man-made surface feature that affects the 2 propagation of a signal from a base station. 3 ‘‘(6) FABRIC.—The term ‘Fabric’ means the 4 Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric established 5 under section 802(b)(1)(B). 6 ‘‘(7) FORM 477.—The term ‘Form 477’ means 7 Form 477 of the Commission relating to local tele- 8 phone competition and broadband reporting. 9 ‘‘(8) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian Tribe’ 10 has the meaning given the term ‘Indian tribe’ in sec- 11 tion 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu- 12 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 13 ‘‘(9) MOBILITY FUND PHASE II.—The term 14 ‘Mobility Fund Phase II’ means the second phase of 15 the proceeding to provide universal service support 16 from the Mobility Fund (WC Docket No. 10–90; 17 WT Docket No. 10–208). 18 ‘‘(10) PROPAGATION MODEL.—The term ‘prop- 19 agation model’ means a mathematical formulation 20 for the characterization of radio wave propagation as 21 a function of frequency, distance, and other condi- 22 tions. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4229.PCS H4229 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 HR 4229 PCS ‘‘(11) PROVIDER.—The term ‘provider’ means a 1 provider of fixed or mobile broadband internet access 2 service. 3 ‘‘(12) QUALITY OF SERVICE.—The term ‘qual- 4 ity of service’ means information regarding offered 5 download and upload speeds and latency of a pro- 6 vider’s broadband internet access service as deter- 7 mined by and to the extent otherwise collected by 8 the Commission. 9 ‘‘(13) SHAPEFILE.—The term ‘shapefile’ means 10 a digital storage format containing geospatial or lo- 11 cation-based data and attribute information— 12 ‘‘(A) regarding the availability of 13 broadband internet access service; and 14 ‘‘(B) that can be viewed, edited, and 15 mapped in geographic information system soft- 16 ware. 17 ‘‘(14) STANDARD BROADBAND INSTALLA- 18 TION.—The term ‘standard broadband installa- 19 tion’— 20 ‘‘(A) means the initiation by a provider of 21 fixed broadband internet access service in an 22 area where the provider has not previously of- 23 fered that service, with no charges or delays at- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4229.PCS H4229 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 HR 4229 PCS tributable to the extension of the network of the 1 provider; and 2 ‘‘(B) includes the initiation of fixed 3 broadband internet access service through rou- 4 tine installation that can be completed not later 5 than 10 business days after the date on which 6 the service request is submitted. 7 ‘‘SEC. 802. BROADBAND MAPS. 8 ‘‘(a) RULES.— 9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 10 after the date of enactment of this title, the Com- 11 mission shall issue rules that shall— 12 ‘‘(A) require the collection and dissemina- 13 tion of granular data, as determined by the 14 Commission— 15 ‘‘(i) relating to the availability and 16 quality of service of terrestrial fixed, fixed 17 wireless, satellite, and mobile broadband 18 internet access service; and 19 ‘‘(ii) that the Commission shall use to 20 compile the maps created under subsection 21 (c)(1) (referred to in this section as ‘cov- 22 erage maps’), which the Commission shall 23 make publicly available; and 24 ‘‘(B) establish— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4229.PCS H4229 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 HR 4229 PCS ‘‘(i) processes through which the Com- 1 mission can verify the accuracy of data 2 submitted under subsection (b)(2); 3 ‘‘(ii) processes and procedures 4 through which the Commission, and, as 5 necessary, other entities or persons submit- 6 ting non-public or competitively sensitive 7 information under this title, can protect 8 the security, privacy, and confidentiality of 9 such non-public or competitively sensitive 10 information, including— 11 ‘‘(I) information contained in the 12 Fabric; 13 ‘‘(II) the dataset created under 14 subsection (b)(1)(A) supporting the 15 Fabric; and 16 ‘‘(III) the data submitted under 17 subsection (b)(2); 18 ‘‘(iii) the challenge process described 19 in subsection (b)(5); and 20 ‘‘(iv) the process described in section 21 803(b). 22 ‘‘(2) OTHER DATA.—In issuing the rules under 23 paragraph (1), the Commission shall develop a proc- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4229.PCS H4229 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 HR 4229 PCS ess through which the Commission can collect 1 verified data for use in the coverage maps from— 2 ‘‘(A) State, local, and Tribal governmental 3 entities that are primarily responsible for map- 4 ping or tracking broadband internet access 5 service coverage for a State, unit of local gov- 6 ernment, or Indian Tribe, as applicable; 7 ‘‘(B) third parties, including industry anal- 8 ysis, mapping, or tracking of broadband inter- 9 net access service coverage and quality of serv- 10 ice, if the Commission determines that it is in 11 the public interest to use such data in— 12 ‘‘(i) the development of the coverage 13 maps; or 14 ‘‘(ii) the verification of data submitted 15 under subsection (b); and 16 ‘‘(C) other Federal agencies. 17 ‘‘(3) UPDATES.—The Commission shall revise 18 the rules issued under paragraph (1) to— 19 ‘‘(A) reflect changes in technology; 20 ‘‘(B) ensure the accuracy of propagation 21 models, as further provided in subsection 22 (b)(3); and 23 ‘‘(C) improve the usefulness of the cov- 24 erage maps. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4229.PCS H4229 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 HR 4229 PCS ‘‘(b) CONTENT OF RULES.— 1 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT OF A SERVICEABLE LO- 2 CATION FABRIC REGARDING FIXED BROADBAND.— 3 ‘‘(A) DATASET.— 4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Commission 5 shall create a common dataset of all loca- 6 tions in the United States where fixed 7 broadband internet access service can be 8 installed, as determined by the Commis- 9 sion. 10 ‘‘(ii) CONTRACTING.— 11 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Subject to 12 subclauses (II) and (III), the Commis- 13 sion may only contract with an entity 14 with expertise with respect to geo- 15 graphic information systems (referred 16 to in this subsection as ‘GIS’) to cre- 17 ate and maintain the dataset under 18 clause (i). 19 ‘‘(II) APPLICATION OF THE FED- 20 ERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION.—A 21 contract into which the Commission 22 enters under subclause (I) shall in all 23 respects comply with applicable provi- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4229.PCS H4229 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 HR 4229 PCS sions of the Federal Acquisition Regu- 1 lation. 2 ‘‘(III) LIMITATIONS.—With re- 3 spect to a contract into which the 4 Commission enters under subclause 5 (I)— 6 ‘‘(aa) the entity with which 7 the Commission contracts shall 8 be selected through a competitive 9 bid process that is transparent 10 and open; 11 ‘‘(bb) the contract shall be 12 for a term of not longer than 5 13 years, after which the Commis- 14 sion may enter into a new con- 15 tract— 16 ‘‘(AA) with an entity, 17 and for the purposes, de- 18 scribed in clause (i); and 19 ‘‘(BB) that complies 20 with the requirements under 21 subclause (II) and this sub- 22 clause; and 23 ‘‘(cc) the contract shall pro- 24 hibit the entity with which the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4229.PCS H4229 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 HR 4229 PCS Commission contracts (and re- 1 quire such entity to include in 2 any contract with any other enti- 3 ty with which such entity con- 4 tracts a provision prohibiting 5 such other entity) from selling, 6 leasing, or otherwise disclosing 7 for monetary consideration any 8 personally identifiable informa- 9 tion to any entity other than for 10 purposes authorized under this 11 title. 12 ‘‘(B) FABRIC.—The rules issued by the 13 Commission under subsection (a)(1) shall estab- 14 lish the Broadband Serviceable Location Fab- 15 ric, which shall— 16 ‘‘(i) contain geocoded information for 17 each location identified under subpara- 18 graph (A)(i); 19 ‘‘(ii) serve as the foundation upon 20 which all data relating to the availability of 21 fixed broadband internet access service col- 22 lected under paragraph (2)(A) shall be re- 23 ported and overlaid; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4229.PCS H4229 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 HR 4229 PCS ‘‘(iii) be compatible with commonly 1 used GIS software; and 2 ‘‘(iv) at a minimum, be updated every 3 6 months by the Commission. 4 ‘‘(C) IMPLEMENTATION PRIORITY.—The 5 Commission shall prioritize implementing the 6 Fabric for rural and insular areas of the United 7 States. 8 ‘‘(2) COLLECTION OF INFORMATION.—The 9 rules issued by the Commission under subsection 10 (a)(1) shall include uniform standards for the re- 11 porting of broadband internet access service data 12 that the Commission shall collect— 13 ‘‘(A) from each provider of terrestrial 14 fixed, fixed wireless, or satellite broadband 15 internet access service, which shall include data 16 that— 17 ‘‘(i) documents the areas where the 18 provider— 19 ‘‘(I) has actually built out the 20 broadband network infrastructure of 21 the provider such that the provider is 22 able to provide that service; and 23 ‘‘(II) could provide that service, 24 as determined by identifying where 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4229.PCS H4229 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 HR 4229 PCS the provider is capable of performing 1 a standard broadband installation, if 2 applicable; 3 ‘‘(ii) includes information regarding 4 download and upload speeds, at various 5 thresholds established by the Commission, 6 and, if applicable, latency with respect to 7 broadband internet access service that the 8 provider makes available; 9 ‘‘(iii) can be georeferenced to the GIS 10 data in the Fabric; 11 ‘‘(iv) the provider shall report as— 12 ‘‘(I) with respect to providers of 13 fixed wireless broadband internet ac- 14 cess service— 15 ‘‘(aa) propagation maps and 16 propagation model details that— 17 ‘‘(AA) satisfy standards 18 that are similar to those ap- 19 plicable to providers of mo- 20 bile broadband internet ac- 21 cess service under subpara- 22 graph (B) with respect to 23 propagation maps and prop- 24 agation model details, taking 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4229.PCS H4229 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 13 HR 4229 PCS into account material dif- 1 ferences between fixed wire- 2 less and mobile broadband 3 internet access service; and 4 ‘‘(BB) reflect the 5 speeds and latency of the 6 service provided by the pro- 7 vider; or 8 ‘‘(bb) a list of addresses or 9 locations that constitute the serv- 10 ice area of the provider, except 11 that the Commission— 12 ‘‘(AA) may only permit, 13 and not require, a provider 14 to report the data using that 15 means of reporting; and 16 ‘‘(BB) in the rules 17 issued under subsection 18 (a)(1), shall provide a meth- 19 od for using that means of 20 reporting with respect to 21 Tribal areas; and 22 ‘‘(II) with respect to providers of 23 terrestrial fixed and satellite 24 broadband internet access service— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4229.PCS H4229 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 14 HR 4229 PCS ‘‘(aa) polygon shapefiles; or 1 ‘‘(bb) a list of addresses or 2 locations that constitute the serv- 3 ice area of the provider, except 4 that the Commission— 5 ‘‘(AA) may only permit, 6 and not require, a provider 7 to report the data using that 8 means of reporting; and 9 ‘‘(BB) in the rules 10 issued under subsection 11 (a)(1), shall provide a meth- 12 od for using that means of 13 reporting with respect to 14 Tribal areas; and 15 ‘‘(v) the Commission determines is ap- 16 propriate with respect to certain tech- 17 nologies in order to ensure that the 18 Broadband Map is granular and accurate; 19 and 20 ‘‘(B) from each provider of mobile 21 broadband internet access service, which shall 22 include propagation maps, and propagation 23 model details, that indicate the current (as of 24 the date on which the information is collected) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Dec 18, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 [Text truncated for display. 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