Nevada’s two senators are taking aim at the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) recently updated new broadband map, stating they still dramatically overstate broadband access, despite taxpayers having now spent nearly $400 million on the effort.

But critics say one of the senators complaining about the shoddy maps is in part responsible for the dysfunction at the agency.

The agency’s new broadband map, released last November, is a notable improvement from the agency’s old, $350 million broadband map, which was widely criticized for overstating competitors, broadband coverage, and service speeds while failing to track a key obstacle to broadband access in the U.S.: price and affordability.

In 2020, Congress passed the Broadband DATA Act, which required the FCC to implement a wide variety of mapping reforms to help expand U.S. access to affordable broadband. But Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) say the new map still doesn’t paint an accurate picture of the digital divide in their state.

“Despite a clear mandate from Congress, the draft maps are deeply flawed,” the two told the FCC in a letter this week. “As Senators representing Nevada, we are seriously concerned about the Nevada map’s accuracy and potential negative impacts on broadband infrastructure funding for our state.”

States are eager to take advantage of more than $50 billion in broadband subsidies looming courtesy of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the Broadband Equity,...

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