An Internet service provider that admitted lying to the Federal Communications Commission about where it offers broadband will pay a $10,000 fine and implement a compliance plan to prevent future violations.
Jefferson County Cable (JCC), a small ISP in Toronto, Ohio, admitted that it falsely claimed to offer fiber service in an area that it hadn't expanded to yet. A company executive also admitted that the firm submitted false coverage data to prevent other ISPs from obtaining government grants to serve the area. Ars helped expose the incident in a February 2023 article.
The FCC announced the outcome of its investigation on March 15, saying that Jefferson County Cable violated the Broadband Data Collection program requirements and the Broadband DATA Act, a US law, "in connection with reporting inaccurate information or data with respect to the Company's ability to provide broadband Internet access service."
"To settle this matter, Jefferson County Cable agrees to pay a $10,000 civil penalty to the United States Treasury," the FCC said. "Jefferson County Cable also agrees to implement enhanced compliance measures. This action will help further the Commission's efforts to bridge the digital divide by having accurate data of locations where broadband service is available."
We also published reports in February 2023 detailing false broadband claims made by Comcast, which initially insisted that the false data it submitted to the FCC was correct. It's not clear yet whether Comcast will face any punishment.
Inaccurate claims for 1,500 addresses
Last week's FCC order said that Jefferson County Cable initially reported serving 8,178 addresses for the commission's June 30, 2022, data collection. It then reduced that number to 6,605 addresses in the FCC's next round of data collection for December 31, 2022.
AdvertisementEven the second, lower number was higher than Jefferson County Cable's actual coverage. After a letter from the FCC Enforcement Bureau in March 2023, "Jefferson County Cable corrected its inaccurate submissions for both data filings by removing these approximately 1,500 locations from each of the relevant data filings on May 19, 2023," the FCC order said.
"At that time, the Company could not provide broadband service at or connect those locations within 10 business days of a request for service, as required by the Broadband Data Collection Rules," the FCC said. "Jefferson County Cable acknowledged to the Bureau that it had not taken the necessary time and effort to review and understand the Commission's guidance on Broadband Data Collection filings before it made these two filings."
Jefferson County Cable's false claim came to light thanks to Ryan Grewell, who runs a small wireless Internet service provider called Smart Way Communications. He heard about the false claims from his own customers and used the FCC's map system to file challenges at specific addresses.
Damning email
One of Grewell's challenges at an address in Bergholz, Ohio, led to the cable company admitting its false claims. Last week's FCC order said this address was one of the 1,500 incorrectly claimed locations.
As we reported, Grewell got a response from a Jefferson County Cable executive who mistakenly thought Grewell was a potential customer instead of a competitor. The email said that Jefferson County Cable didn't serve the area yet, but wanted to prevent potential competitors from getting deployment grants.
"You challenged that we do not have service at your residence and indeed we don't today," said the January 2023 email from Jefferson County Cable executive Bob Loveridge. "With our huge investment in upgrading our service to provide xgpon we reported to the BDC [Broadband Data Collection] that we have service at your residence so that they would not allocate addition [sic] broadband expansion money over [the] top of our private investment in our plant."
Fine not big enough, rival ISP says
Despite Jefferson County Cable's claim over a year ago that it would soon expand to the address in Bergholz, the company's website still doesn't advertise any service availability in Bergholz. We contacted Jefferson County Cable today and will update this article if we get a response.
Grewell wasn't satisfied with the $10,000 penalty. "I believe the imposed fine was disproportionately small given the severity of the offense," Grewell told Ars today.
Program rules do not allow ISPs to claim future coverage in their map submissions, with a single exception that did not apply in the Jefferson County Cable case. The FCC allows ISPs to claim addresses where their network is close enough to perform a "standard broadband installation," meaning that service can be deployed within 10 business days "with no charges or delays attributable to the extension of the network of the provider."
Grewell noted that the US government's $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) fund uses the FCC map data to determine which areas are eligible for deployment grants. "The consequences of a service provider submitting false information could result in persistent broadband access gaps," Grewell said.
FCC challenge process “deeply flawed”
Grewell also is dissatisfied with the FCC's challenge system. "Consider that the only reason this provider was caught is due to inquiries from individuals like myself," Grewell said. "It's unrealistic to expect that there will always be someone to raise questions in every case. The average citizen is unlikely to scrutinize the FCC's broadband map for inaccuracies. This begs the question: how many others might be exploiting the system to safeguard their own interests?"
AdvertisementWhile Jefferson County Cable's small size might have factored into the FCC's decision on the amount of the fine, Grewell said he worries that "the precedent it sets may inadvertently encourage larger corporations to view such penalties as merely a potential operational cost, rather than a deterrent to unethical behavior."
Christopher Mitchell, director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance's Community Broadband Network Initiative, has been criticizing the FCC's challenge system for over a year.
"I think the challenge process remains deeply flawed and the FCC has shown no interest in collecting real, usable data," Mitchell told Ars today. "They continue to put the burden on random residents and nonprofit organizations to do the work that the FCC itself should be doing to publish an accurate data set of where Internet access is available under what terms."
Mitchell said he thinks a $10,000 fine for a first-time offense is reasonable as long as there is "an escalating series of fines if the ISPs continue to submit false claims."
Compliance plan
The FCC ordered Jefferson County Cable to implement "internal procedures and policies specifically designed" to ensure compliance, and conduct annual compliance training with employees. It will have to file a compliance report with the FCC within 90 days and submit annual reports for two years.
Jefferson County Cable is required to self-report any future instances of noncompliance, with an explanation of what happened and the steps it's taking to prevent repeats. The requirements are set to expire in 24 months, but could be extended another 12 months if the company doesn't fully comply.
