Senators, Farmers Challenge Accuracy of FCC Internet Coverage Claims

The digital divide between urban American and farmers, businesses and communities in rural America is widening, partially because the Federal Communications Commission uses flawed mapping tools to define who has good internet access. Members of the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Wednesday heard from the president of the Mississippi Farm Bureau and others about mapping problems with FCC that make it more difficult to know exactly where internet coverage holes actually exist. Multiple people testified that FCC coverage maps dramatically overstate broadband coverage."We cannot close the digital divide if we don't know the size and location of existing coverage gaps," said Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the committee.