Rhetoric Aside: What the Data Actually Say About Broadband Deployment

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Looking at the Federal Communications Commission’s Form 477 data from 2015 and 2016, three empirical facts emerge:

  • First, prices and speeds in single-provider markets belie the rhetorical “monopoly” characterization made by some advocacy groups. The data show that single-provider areas have the same prices as multiple-provider areas. Rather than being a “monopoly” problem, a more accurate characterization of the single-provider areas is that at least one provider is bringing the full benefits of broadband to places that multiple providers have yet to serve. 
  • Second, the deployment of cable broadband services between 2015 and 2016 is disproportionally focused on rural markets. This shift in deployment is encouraging.
  • Third, despite claims that the larger broadband providers seek to minimize competition between them, the vast majority of their competitive service territories include another large provider of broadband.

Rhetoric Aside: What the Data Actually Say About Broadband Deployment