What you need to know about the national broadband map

The FCC's new National Broadband Map debuted in November and – as the basis for the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program – is set to define the future of broadband access in the US.

In this short video, we get into the backstory of the new broadband map, what it says about connectivity in the country and why the FCC is under immense pressure to get it right.

Catch up on more of Light Reading's coverage of the national broadband map below:

• Rosenworcel: Version two of broadband map will address 'most, if not all' concerns
• New company seeks to help tribes with broadband mapping, BEAD prep
• BEAD funds sufficient based on new FCC mapping data, ACA Connects says
• FCC has received 'thousands' of consumer challenges to broadband map
• Group urges FCC to label anchor institutions as broadband serviceable locations
• FCC releases broadband map, opens public challenge process
• New York says FCC map missing over 31,000 locations
• Rural ISPs struggling to meet FCC mapping deadline

— Nicole Ferraro, editor, Light Reading, and host of "​​The Divide" on the Light Reading Podcast, and Diana Blass, contributing editor, Light Reading