Glossary of Terms and Acronyms

• BEAD: Broadband, Equity, Access & Deployment program under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
• Broadband Serviceable Location (BSL): a business or residential location in the US at which fixed broadband internet access service is, or can be, installed.
• Bulk Challenge: An FCC Process whereby multiple locations are being submitted for revisions to the FCC Map.
• Community Anchor Institution (CAI): an entity such as a school, library, health clinic, health center, hospital or other medical provider, public safety entity, institution of higher education, public housing organization, or community support organization that facilitates greater use of broadband service by vulnerable populations. A CAI that lacks access to Gigabit-level broadband service is an eligible service location under the BEAD Program.
• FCC: Federal Communications Commission is an independent U.S. government agency, responsible for implementing and enforcing America’s communications law and regulations.
• Fixed Broadband: Any data transmission to a residence or business, i.e., a fixed location, using a variety of technologies such as cable, DFL, and fiber optics. It does not include cellular and satellite-based internet.
• Individual Challenge: An FCC process whereby an individual can challenge either the location of an address and/or the availability of existing broadband service at that location.
• ISP: Internet service provider
• Mbps: Megabytes per Second
• Unserved Location: A broadband-serviceable location where the FCC map shows no access to broadband service or lacking access to broadband service offered with – less than 25 Mbps.
• Underserved Location: A broadband-serviceable location that is not an unserved location and the FCC Map shows as lacking access to broadband service offered with less than 100 and 20 Mbps.