January 2016

The Federal Communications Commission released its fifth International Broadband Data Report, a requirement of the Broadband Data Improvement Act. The available international broadband data, though not fully comparable to data on the United States, continue to suggest that although the United States may be among the leaders for developed countries with regard to some broadband metrics, it lags in some other metrics. In this Report and its appendices, the FCC presents a number of data points, including fixed broadband deployment data in the United States and the European Union with a focus on rural areas, advertised and actual fixed broadband speeds in 40 countries around the world, including the United States, and broadband prices (both fixed and mobile plans) across the same 40 countries. As with previous Reports, the FCC also gathered demographic and regulatory/market data (to the extent available) for the countries included in this Report.

A Federal Communications Commission proposal that cable companies allow customers to use their own set-top boxes, instead of forcing customers to rent these boxes from the cable companies themselves, is attracting significant support among racial diversity advocacy groups.

Alex Nogales, president and CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC), said that the proposal is the best way to make the price of TV more accessible to less affluent communities. In Nogales’ view, making set-top boxes more affordable would not only lead to a proliferation of Latino-oriented television programming, but would in turn would lead to a greater understanding of Latino culture among non-Latinos. “The state of media for minorities in this country is terrible,” Nogales said. “I’m paying over $150 per month for cable—what the hell am I getting for my money?” As an example, he cited the lack of television channels aimed at Latinos whose primary language is English. “There’s Fusion [a joint venture between Univision and ABC] and that’s it,” he said, noting that a significant percentage of Latinos in the US don’t speak Spanish at all. Nogales isn’t alone in his support of the FCC’s efforts.

Mark Zuckerberg launched his sweeping Internet.org initiative in 2013 as a way to provide 4 billion people in the developing world with Web access, which he says he sees as a basic human right. But the initiative has hit a major snag in India, where in recent months Free Basics has been embroiled in controversy — with critics saying that the app, which provides limited access to the Web, does a disservice to the poor and violates the principles of “net neutrality,” which holds that equal access to the Internet should be unfettered to all.

Activist groups such as Save the Internet, professors from leading universities and tech titans such as Nandan Nilekani, the co-founder of Infosys, have spoken out against it. Another well-known Indian entrepreneur dubbed it “poor Internet for poor people.” India’s debate could affect the way other countries address the question of whether it is fair for Internet service providers to price websites differently. The US Federal Communications Commission’s rules on network neutrality went into effect only in June. Officials at Facebook launched an advertising blitz to counteract the negative publicity.