New Commerce Department Report Examines Competition Among US Broadband Service Providers

A new report released by the US Commerce Department's Economics and Statistics Administration examines, for the first time, competition at the full range of speeds of Internet service in the US.

The ESA report, “Competition Among US Broadband Service Providers,” finds that far more competition exists at slower speeds than at higher speeds. At download speeds of 3 megabits per second, 98 percent of the US population had a choice of at least two mobile ISPs, and 88 percent had two or more fixed ISPs available to them. At somewhat higher speeds, such as 10 Mbps, the typical person is able to choose among two fixed ISPs. At speeds greater than 10 Mbps, the number of providers decreases further -- only 37 percent of the population had a choice of two or more fixed-service providers at speeds of 25 Mbps or greater; only 9 percent had three or more choices. The report also found that four out of ten Americans did not live where very-high-speed broadband service -- 100 Mbps or greater -- is available.