Federal Communications Commission	DA 26-XX



DA 26-420
Released:  April 29, 2026

BROADBAND DATA TASK FORCE AND OFFICE OF ECONOMICS AND ANALYTICS PUBLISH SPECIFICATIONS FOR DATA REQUIRED TO RESTORE COVERAGE AND ANNOUNCE LAUNCH OF COVERAGE RESTORATION PROCESS
WC Docket Nos. 11-10, 19-195

By this Public Notice, the Broadband Data Task Force (Task Force) and the Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA) announce the launch of the coverage restoration process to begin on Thursday, May 7, 2026.  The specifications for data required by service providers seeking to restore coverage in the Broadband Data Collection (BDC) are available by visiting: https://us-fcc.box.com/v/bdc-coverage-restoration-spec.  Concurrent with release of this Public Notice, the Chairman today released a public draft of the BDC Sixth Report and Order and Fifth Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Fifth FNPRM), Establishing the Digital Opportunity Data Collection; Modernizing the FCC Form 477 Data Program; Delete, Delete, Delete, WC Docket Nos. 19-195 and 11-10; GN Docket No. 25-133, Sixth Report and Order and Fifth Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (2026) (Public Draft).
 in which the Commission would seek comment on a variety of additional approaches and evidentiary requirements to further streamline the coverage restoration process.
Background.  Since the launch of the National Broadband Map (NBM) on November 18, 2022, the challenge, verification, and audit processes have been active and have led to meaningful updates to the map. See Establishing the Digital Opportunity Data Collection; Modernizing the FCC Form 477 Data Program, WC Docket Nos. 19-195, 11-10, Fourth Report and Order, Declaratory Ruling, and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 39 FCC Rcd 7539, 7552, para. 34 (2024) (Fourth FNPRM or Declaratory Ruling).
  Pursuant to the Commission’s BDC rules, where a challenge is upheld against the broadband service reported by a provider for a location (in the case of fixed broadband) or area (in the case of mobile broadband), or where the provider otherwise concedes the challenge, the provider must revise its reported broadband availability data to either remove service at the location or area or else update the technology or speed reported consistent with the adjudicated challenge. 47 CFR § 1.7006(d)(3), (4), (6), (e)(7), (f)(8).
  Additionally, when Commission staff determine, based upon efforts to verify or audit a provider’s reported broadband availability data, that the provider’s coverage cannot be verified for a location or area, the provider must similarly revise and remove or update its reported broadband availability data. 47 CFR § 1.7006(d).
  
Locations or areas removed from a provider’s claimed availability on the NBM as the result of a lost or conceded challenge, a verification inquiry, or an audit (together, “Removed Locations or Areas”) “persist” from one BDC filing round to the next until such time as the provider makes a sufficient showing to warrant restoration of the Removed Location or Area. See Declaratory Ruling, 39 FCC Rcd at 7550, 7553, paras. 29 & n.72, 36.
  This encourages “active participation in the challenge, verification, and audit processes by service providers and . . . alleviate[s] the need for challengers and the Commission to repeatedly correct previously adjudicated locations or areas.” Declaratory Ruling, 39 FCC Rcd at 7553, para. 36.
  
The Commission has found that its rules, as well as the statutory obligation to verify the accuracy of the data displayed on the NBM, require a restoration process for Removed Locations or Areas to ensure that the data on the NBM remain accurate. See Declaratory Ruling, 39 FCC Rcd at 7550, 7554, paras. 29, 38 (citing 47 U.S.C. § 642(a)(1)(B)(i); see also id. § 642(b)(4)(B) (requiring that the Commission “verify the accuracy and reliability of the information in accordance with measures established by the Commission” as to a provider that submits availability data in the BDC)).
  In the Declaratory Ruling accompanying the Fourth Report and Order, the Commission clarified that service providers must submit additional, more detailed information for Removed Locations or Areas to restore coverage. See Declaratory Ruling, 39 FCC Rcd at 7555-56, paras. 41-43.
  The Commission further directed OEA, in consultation with the Wireline Competition Bureau, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, the Office of Engineering and Technology, and the Space Bureau, to develop and publish the data specifications setting out data categories that providers must submit in order to restore previously-removed coverage. Declaratory Ruling, 39 FCC Rcd at 7555-56, para. 44.  (“We direct OEA, in consultation with WCB, WTB, OET and SB, to develop and publish data specifications detailing the information a provider must submit when seeking to restore a previously Removed Location or Area through a subsequent BDC filing—starting with the infrastructure data included in the Data Specifications for Provider Infrastructure Data in the Challenge, Verification, and Audit Processes.”).
  The Commission also explained that the provider infrastructure data required in the challenge, verification, and audit processes are indicative of the kind of information the Commission expected to be persuasive to restore locations or areas, especially for locations removed due to an upheld challenge for particular fixed challenge categories. Declaratory Ruling, 39 FCC Rcd at 7555-56, para. 42. 
  Specifically, the Commission noted that fixed provider infrastructure data would be relevant for consumer and bulk fixed availability challenges lost under Challenge Category Codes 4, 5, 6, 8, or 9 and bulk fixed availability challenges lost under Challenge Category Codes 1 or 2 A description of each of the fixed availability challenge category codes is available on the BDC Help Center.  See FCC, How to Format Bulk Fixed Challenge and Crowdsource Data – BDC Help Center, https://help.bdc.fcc.gov/hc/en-us/articles/10390523851803-How-to-Format-Bulk-Fixed-Challenge-and-Crowdsource-Data.
 and that mobile provider infrastructure data would be informative when providers seek to restore coverage areas lost in the mobile challenge process as well as coverage areas removed in response to verifications or audits. Declaratory Ruling, 39 FCC Rcd at 7555-56, para. 42.
  The Commission also sought comment on the data requirements for restoring coverage where infrastructure data are not relevant in the Fourth FNPRM. Fourth FNPRM, 39 FCC Rcd at 7578-79, paras. 110-14.
 
Discussion.  Consistent with the Commission’s delegation to OEA to develop specifications for the data that a provider would be required to submit, Declaratory Ruling, 39 FCC Rcd at 7550, 7556, paras. 29, 44. 
 today the Task Force and OEA announce the launch of an initial coverage restoration process wherein providers may submit infrastructure data to demonstrate their ability to now provide broadband service for certain Removed Locations or Areas.  This initial coverage restoration process will be available beginning Thursday, May 7, 2026.  The initial coverage restoration process is limited to Removed Areas or Locations for which infrastructure data would be relevant, as described in the following paragraph.  
Areas or locations removed based on challenge codes for which infrastructure data is not relevant are not eligible for the initial coverage restoration process at this time.  We note that in the public draft of the BDC Sixth Report and Order and Fifth FNPRM See Public Draft at 11-14, paras. 27-36.
 released today, the Commission would seek comment on a variety of additional approaches and evidentiary requirements to further streamline the coverage restoration process.  The Commission would also seek to refresh the record as well as seek comment on a variety of options to reduce burdens on providers and on other ways to streamline the coverage restoration process. Public Draft at 12, para. 29.
  The public draft notes that the Commission would generally expect these options to be alternative mechanisms to the existing coverage restoration process based upon provider submission of infrastructure data or to apply in scenarios where infrastructure data may not be relevant. Public Draft at 12, para. 29.

Procedure.  A coverage restoration request is created when a provider uploads and certifies broadband availability data in the BDC system that includes locations or areas previously removed based on the outcome of fixed and mobile availability challenges or the outcome of a verification or audit for individual locations or areas.  After a coverage restoration request is created in the BDC system, the provider will see a new link on the Submission Overview page and will be able to submit the appropriate reason code(s) for the coverage it wishes to restore, along with required infrastructure data. The Data Specifications for the Coverage Restoration Process are available here:  https://us-fcc.box.com/v/bdc-coverage-restoration-spec.
Providers will have until the opening date of the next filing window after they initiate a coverage restoration request to complete and certify the data required in the coverage restoration request.  If a provider does not complete a coverage restoration request before the opening of the next filing window, the request will become moot.  If the provider seeks to restore coverage in a subsequent biannual filing round, a new coverage restoration request will be created.  Coverage restoration requests attach to the vintage of data associated with the broadband availability data submitted in the BDC system that created the request.  If a restoration request is successful, the provider’s broadband availability would be restored on the map from that data vintage onward, but any vintages prior to the restoration request would continue to reflect the outcome of an earlier challenge, verification, or audit.
Resources.  To assist providers seeking to restore coverage, a video tutorial, updated BDC User Guide, will be published alongside launch of the coverage restoration process on Thursday, May 7, 2026, as well as new BDC Help Center articles with guidance on the process at https://help.bdc.fcc.gov/.  
  In addition, office hours based on technology types will take place on the following dates:

2
· May 19, 2026: 3-4 PM ET – Fixed Wireline
· May 20, 2026: 3-4 PM ET – Fixed Wireless
· May 26, 2026: 3-4 PM ET – Mobile
· May 27, 2026: 1-2 PM ET – Satellite

Questions may also be submitted in advance of office hours to the BDC Help Center by emailing BroadbandDataInquiries@fcc.gov or during office hours using the Q&A function.  
Reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities are available upon request.  Please include a description of the accommodation you will need and tell us how to contact you if we need more information.  Please make your request as early as possible.  Last-minute requests will be accepted but it may not be possible to accommodate them.  Send an e-mail to FCC504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530 (voice).
Further Information.  Questions regarding this Public Notice may be directed to Jamile Kadre, Broadband Data Task Force, Jamile.Kadre@fcc.gov.  
–FCC–