Colusa officials urge public support for broadband funding

Dec. 20—Colusa County officials are urging the public to get involved with the process of identifying "unserved and underserved communities most in need of funding for high speed internet infrastructure investments" in the county.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently created a new map showing where high-speed service is available across the country. Consumers and area jurisdictions are now able to help verify or dispute the accuracy of the data presented in the map by filing challenges, officials said.

"We encourage residents to review the FCC map and dispute inaccurate information as soon as possible," Colusa County Administrative Officer Wendy G. Tyler said in a statement. "The level of support that we receive for broadband funding infrastructure funding depends solely on the accuracy of these maps."

The need to identify areas of concern coincides with California's distribution of $42.5 billion of Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment federal infrastructure funding. This funding is based on the location service information found in the FCC map. County officials said "it is imperative that local communities review and challenge inaccurate information."

The National Broadband Map is available at https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/home. Challenges to the map are due by Jan. 13, 2023.