[theFletch]

I work for a rural ISP and would say that the data can be pretty overwhelming. We rely on the counties for GIS information regarding addresses, which in a lot of cases is not great (especially rural). For the big guys, and maybe even some smaller, there is a certain amount "land grabbing" for protection from competition. When you ask what the benefit would be, it could simply be the equivalent of a rounding error too. Maybe someone drew the polygon too big. It certainly matters though when it comes to not only the availability of funds to each state, but also the application process for certain areas.