FCC broadband maps overcount fiber coverage by 66%, misallocating BEAD billions

ISPs self-report their coverage areas to the FCC, and a nationwide audit of 109,473 ISP-address tests (Oct 2024 - Mar 2025) found that 66.5% of addresses listed as fiber-served cannot actually order a 100/20 Mbps plan. The FCC says 19.6 million Americans lack broadband; the real number is closer to 26 million -- a 33% undercount. So what? This means BEAD's $42.5B in funding is allocated based on a map that is fundamentally wrong. States like South Carolina saw an 84% swing in eligible locations between map versions, meaning communities that genuinely lack connectivity lose funding to areas that were incorrectly marked unserved, while truly unserved areas get nothing. The structural reason this persists is that the FCC relies on provider self-reporting with no mandatory ground-truth verification, and ISPs have a financial incentive to overstate coverage (to block competitors from receiving subsidies in 'their' territory) while simultaneously having no penalty for inaccurate filings.