On April 3, 2023, the FCC’s Broadband Data Task Force released video tutorials to assist providers of mobile broadband service with responding to challenges as part of the FCC’s Broadband Data Collection.
According to these videos (links at the bottom) mobile providers will receive email notifications of challenges, to which they must respond or they will be subject to enforcement action by the FCC. They must respond within 60 days and have the option to concede or rebut the challenge. If they concede the challenge they must remove the challenged area from their map within 30 days. If they rebut the challenge they must provide on the ground speed test data. The speed tests must be conducted outdoors between 6:00 am and 10:00 pm local time with an android application that meets FCC requirements. The tests must show reliability for at least 90% of the time and the smallest failed area that will be listed is 1 square kilometer. If the mobile provider conducts a drive test, the antenna must be inside the vehicle. In extenuating circumstances, such as a cell tower outage, infrastructure data may be submitted instead of speed test data.
After the data is submitted, the FCC may ask for more information and will either accept the mobile provider’s rebuttal or the initial challenge. For more information, see the below videos.
FCC – “An Overview for Providers Responding to Mobile Wireless Coverage Challenges”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64lC-pOK3kM
FCC – “How Providers Should Respond to Mobile Wireless Challenges in the BDC System”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RusmxMXQto