IB 
Union Calendar No. 279 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4229 
[Report No. 116–350] 
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 purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 6, 2019 
Mr. LOEBSACK (for himself, Mr. LATTA, Mr. MCEACHIN, and Mr. LONG) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce 
DECEMBER 16, 2019 
Additional sponsors: Mr. WELCH, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. TONKO, 
Mr. GRIFFITH, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. LUJA´N, Mr. RUSH, Mr. O’HALLERAN, 
Mrs. RODGERS of Washington, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. MICHAEL 
F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. KINZINGER, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. MCNER-
NEY, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. POCAN, Mr. 
LOWENTHAL, Mr. GOLDEN, Ms. KENDRA S. HORN of Oklahoma, Mr. 
PAPPAS, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. WAL-
DEN, Mr. MARSHALL, Ms. UNDERWOOD, Mr. COX of California, Mr. 
MCKINLEY, Mr. VAN DREW, Mr. WRIGHT, Mr. BALDERSON, Mr. DAVID 
SCOTT of Georgia, Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana, Mr. BURGESS, Mrs. 
HARTZLER, Mrs. AXNE, Mr. AUSTIN
SCOTT
of Georgia, Ms. 
FINKENAUER, Ms. WEXTON, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. STAUBER, Mr. 
AGUILAR, Mr. ROUDA, Mr. KELLER, Ms. SPANBERGER, Mr. LARSEN of 
Washington, Ms. TORRES SMALL of New Mexico, Mr. BERGMAN, Mr. 
ALLEN, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. SMITH of Missouri, Mr. DELGADO, 
Mr. EMMER, Mr. GRAVES
of Missouri, Mr. THORNBERRY, Mr. 
RIGGLEMAN, Mr. LUETKEMEYER, Mr. TIPTON, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. 
OLSON, Mr. MCGOVERN, and Mr. GROTHMAN 
DECEMBER 16, 2019 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
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[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on September 6, 2019] 
A BILL 
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. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Broadband Deployment 
Accuracy and Technological Availability Act’’ or the 
‘‘Broadband DATA Act’’. 
SEC. 2. BROADBAND DATA. 
The Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘TITLE VIII—BROADBAND DATA 
‘‘SEC. 801. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘In this title: 
‘‘(1) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE.— 
The term ‘broadband internet access service’ has the 
meaning given the term in section 8.1(b) of title 47, 
Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regula-
tion. 
‘‘(2) BROADBAND MAP.—The term ‘Broadband 
Map’ means the map created by the Commission 
under section 802(c)(1)(A). 
‘‘(3) CELL EDGE PROBABILITY.—The term ‘cell 
edge probability’ means the likelihood that the min-
imum threshold download and upload speeds with re-
spect to broadband internet access service will be met 
or exceeded at a distance from a base station that is 
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intended to indicate the ultimate edge of the coverage 
area of a cell. 
‘‘(4) CELL
LOADING.—The term ‘cell loading’ 
means the percentage of the available air interface re-
sources of a base station that are used by consumers 
with respect to broadband internet access service. 
‘‘(5) CLUTTER.—The term ‘clutter’ means a nat-
ural or man-made surface feature that affects the 
propagation of a signal from a base station. 
‘‘(6) FABRIC.—The term ‘Fabric’ means the 
Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric established 
under section 802(b)(1)(B). 
‘‘(7) FORM 477.—The term ‘Form 477’ means 
Form 477 of the Commission relating to local tele-
phone competition and broadband reporting. 
‘‘(8) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian Tribe’ 
has the meaning given the term ‘Indian tribe’ in sec-
tion 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu-
cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 
‘‘(9) MOBILITY FUND PHASE II.—The term ‘Mo-
bility Fund Phase II’ means the second phase of the 
proceeding to provide universal service support from 
the Mobility Fund (WC Docket No. 10–90; WT Docket 
No. 10–208). 
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‘‘(10) PROPAGATION MODEL.—The term ‘propa-
gation model’ means a mathematical formulation for 
the characterization of radio wave propagation as a 
function of frequency, distance, and other conditions. 
‘‘(11) PROVIDER.—The term ‘provider’ means a 
provider of fixed or mobile broadband internet access 
service. 
‘‘(12) QUALITY OF SERVICE.—The term ‘quality 
of service’ means information regarding offered 
download and upload speeds and latency of a pro-
vider’s broadband internet access service as deter-
mined by and to the extent otherwise collected by the 
Commission. 
‘‘(13) SHAPEFILE.—The term ‘shapefile’ means a 
digital storage format containing geospatial or loca-
tion-based data and attribute information— 
‘‘(A) 
regarding 
the 
availability 
of 
broadband internet access service; and 
‘‘(B) that can be viewed, edited, and 
mapped in geographic information system soft-
ware. 
‘‘(14) STANDARD BROADBAND INSTALLATION.— 
The term ‘standard broadband installation’— 
‘‘(A) means the initiation by a provider of 
fixed broadband internet access service in an 
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area where the provider has not previously of-
fered that service, with no charges or delays at-
tributable to the extension of the network of the 
provider; and 
‘‘(B) 
includes 
the 
initiation 
of 
fixed 
broadband internet access service through routine 
installation that can be completed not later than 
10 business days after the date on which the 
service request is submitted. 
‘‘SEC. 802. BROADBAND MAPS. 
‘‘(a) RULES.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of enactment of this title, the Commis-
sion shall issue rules that shall— 
‘‘(A) require the collection and dissemina-
tion of granular data, as determined by the 
Commission— 
‘‘(i) relating to the availability and 
quality of service of terrestrial fixed, fixed 
wireless, satellite, and mobile broadband 
internet access service; and 
‘‘(ii) that the Commission shall use to 
compile the maps created under subsection 
(c)(1) (referred to in this section as ‘cov-
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erage maps’), which the Commission shall 
make publicly available; and 
‘‘(B) establish— 
‘‘(i) processes through which the Com-
mission can verify the accuracy of data sub-
mitted under subsection (b)(2); 
‘‘(ii) processes and procedures through 
which the Commission, and, as necessary, 
other entities or persons submitting non- 
public or competitively sensitive informa-
tion under this title, can protect the secu-
rity, privacy, and confidentiality of such 
non-public or competitively sensitive infor-
mation, including— 
‘‘(I) information contained in the 
Fabric; 
‘‘(II) the dataset created under 
subsection (b)(1)(A) supporting the 
Fabric; and 
‘‘(III) the data submitted under 
subsection (b)(2); 
‘‘(iii) the challenge process described in 
subsection (b)(5); and 
‘‘(iv) the process described in section 
803(b). 
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‘‘(2) OTHER DATA.—In issuing the rules under 
paragraph (1), the Commission shall develop a proc-
ess through which the Commission can collect verified 
data for use in the coverage maps from— 
‘‘(A) State, local, and Tribal governmental 
entities that are primarily responsible for map-
ping or tracking broadband internet access serv-
ice coverage for a State, unit of local govern-
ment, or Indian Tribe, as applicable; 
‘‘(B) third parties, including industry anal-
ysis, mapping, or tracking of broadband internet 
access service coverage and quality of service, if 
the Commission determines that it is in the pub-
lic interest to use such data in— 
‘‘(i) the development of the coverage 
maps; or 
‘‘(ii) the verification of data submitted 
under subsection (b); and 
‘‘(C) other Federal agencies. 
‘‘(3) UPDATES.—The Commission shall revise the 
rules issued under paragraph (1) to— 
‘‘(A) reflect changes in technology; 
‘‘(B) ensure the accuracy of propagation 
models, as further provided in subsection (b)(3); 
and 
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‘‘(C) improve the usefulness of the coverage 
maps. 
‘‘(b) CONTENT OF RULES.— 
‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT OF A SERVICEABLE LOCA-
TION FABRIC REGARDING FIXED BROADBAND.— 
‘‘(A) DATASET.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—The Commission 
shall create a common dataset of all loca-
tions in the United States where fixed 
broadband internet access service can be in-
stalled, as determined by the Commission. 
‘‘(ii) CONTRACTING.— 
‘‘(I) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to 
subclauses (II) and (III), the Commis-
sion may only contract with an entity 
with expertise with respect to geo-
graphic information systems (referred 
to in this subsection as ‘GIS’) to create 
and maintain the dataset under clause 
(i). 
‘‘(II) APPLICATION OF THE FED-
ERAL
ACQUISITION
REGULATION.—A 
contract into which the Commission 
enters under subclause (I) shall in all 
respects comply with applicable provi-
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sions of the Federal Acquisition Regu-
lation. 
‘‘(III) 
LIMITATIONS.—With 
re-
spect to a contract into which the Com-
mission enters under subclause (I)— 
‘‘(aa) the entity with which 
the Commission contracts shall be 
selected through a competitive bid 
process that is transparent and 
open; 
‘‘(bb) the contract shall be for 
a term of not longer than 5 years, 
after which the Commission may 
enter into a new contract— 
‘‘(AA) with an entity, 
and for the purposes, de-
scribed in clause (i); and 
‘‘(BB) 
that 
complies 
with the requirements under 
subclause (II) and this sub-
clause; and 
‘‘(cc) the contract shall pro-
hibit the entity with which the 
Commission contracts (and re-
quire such entity to include in 
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any contract with any other enti-
ty with which such entity con-
tracts a provision prohibiting 
such other entity) from selling, 
leasing, or otherwise disclosing for 
monetary consideration any per-
sonally identifiable information to 
any entity other than for purposes 
authorized under this title. 
‘‘(B) FABRIC.—The rules issued by the 
Commission under subsection (a)(1) shall estab-
lish the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric, 
which shall— 
‘‘(i) contain geocoded information for 
each location identified under subparagraph 
(A)(i); 
‘‘(ii) serve as the foundation upon 
which all data relating to the availability of 
fixed broadband internet access service col-
lected under paragraph (2)(A) shall be re-
ported and overlaid; 
‘‘(iii) be compatible with commonly 
used GIS software; and 
‘‘(iv) at a minimum, be updated every 
6 months by the Commission. 
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