RES 043 Draft 01 2020-2022 - Laserfiche WebLink

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DCCA's SBI grant and aggregated data. The reported data helps the State in its efforts to more accurately determine the status of broadband access in the State. Again, and as is generally recognized by government and industry, estimates on coverage are at this time subject to limitations because available data is to a large extent self-reported by providers, and is in many instances not maintained by providers in the form and for the purposes of identifying areas of no coverage. Unserved and Underserved Areas Efforts are being made to accurately map unserved areas of the State, as well as underserved Identification of unserved and underserved areas are the most complicated to identify and normally the costliest to service. For unserved areas, identification of the exact locations and potential subscribers pose several challenges. Current subscribers of non -broadband services, such as voice or cable are easily identifiable by their respective service providers. However, not every current subscriber has a valid living address. In many cases, there is no postal delivery service nor do some of the counties provide an address unless specifically requested by the owner. There is also a proliferation of building structures in residential areas erected without a building permit, which also makes identification through public records unreliable. Determining the potential serving area and population density therefore is understated and subsequently lessens the potential of service providers to invest in an area. Federal (FCC and USDA) identification of unserved and underserved areas only go down to the census block level. Although this is an easy method for calculating funding and potential locations in a given area nationwide, there are significant variances at a local level which in some cases completely bypass areas needing of investment. As an example, the federal government will not provide grant funding for any census block where at least one location is determined to be serviced by broadband. In an area of multiple square miles and several tens of unserved locations, they will be completely bypassed because of a single customer. The majority of locations in Hawaiian Homelands who are in unserved and underserved areas are not eligible for any federal funding as the incumbent service provider is no longer an Eligible Telecommunications Carrier. The following maps illustrate the -21-