Pennsylvania is among a multitude of states challenging the Federal Communication Commission’s internet accessibility map, which will determine how $42.5 billion in federal funds will be shared by states across the nation.

The money will come from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, the nation’s largest-ever investment in high-speed internet.

States had until Friday to challenge a broadband-speed map the FCC released in November that, for the first time, illustrates the haves and have nots of internet access down to specific street addresses.

In Butler County, the map shows fixed broadband was available across the county with 80% to 100% accessibility with the exception of an area near Moraine State Park, where no data was available.

The map also shows that mobile broadband is 100% accessible to most places in the county.

But there are many more, some of which were included among about 35,000 locations statewide submitted Friday as part of a bulk challenge to the map by the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority .

Critics have long suspected that the number of people with internet connections has been overstated by the government, in part because agencies creating the maps have deferred to telecommunications companies to say where service is provided.

According to the first draft of the FCC’s map, 2% of the nation’s residential addresses have no broadband access at all, and 11% are considered underserved. But those figures are likely to rise after the state challenges.

Extending service to remote areas with few customers can be expensive for internet providers, but using the surge of new federal funds to fill the gaps depends heavily on knowing where they are.

It’s a far-reaching and expensive program.

The FCC reported Thursday it has received more than 1 million requests to update inaccuracies in the map. And that was a day before the filing deadline. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has said that the process for improving the map will be iterative and that its accuracy will increase over time.

The map released by the FCC shows that most of Butler County has access to fixed broadband. The map also shows that mobile broadband is 100% accessible to most places in the county.

The digital map allows residents to type in their addresses and see how much of the area surrounding them can be accessed with mobile or fixed broadband.

“We encourage states to continue to submit challenges to the map, which is meant to be a living document,” according to a post Friday on the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s blog. ”Continued improvements will move us that much closer in making internet for all a reality.“

The Jan. 13 deadline was set so that the FCC can resolve challenges before the National Telecommunications and Information Administration announces allotments to each state in June.

The states then will funnel the grant money to several entities, including internet service providers, local governments and electric co-ops, to expand networks where people don’t have good service. Entities that take this money will have to offer a low-cost service option. Government regulators will approve the price of that service.

Each state will receive a minimum of $100 million and final allocations will be based upon several factors, including an analysis of unserved locations as shown on the FCC map.

June is only months away. The FCC needs to fix problems with the map before the money starts to flow from Washington.

— JGG