2020 Broadband Deployment Report

The Federal Communications is charged with “encourag[ing] the deployment on a reasonable and timely basis of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans . . . by removing barriers to infrastructure investment and by promoting competition in the telecommunications market.” Available evidence demonstrates that the digital divide continues to narrow as more Americans than ever before have access to high-speed broadband. The number of Americans lacking access to fixed terrestrial broadband service at 25/3 Mbps continues to decline, going down by more than 14% in 2018 and more than 30% between 2016 and 2018. The number of Americans without access to 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile broadband with a median speed of 10/3 Mbps fell approximately 54% between 2017 and 2018. The vast majority of Americans—surpassing 85%—now have access to fixed terrestrial broadband service at 250/25 Mbps, a 47% increase since 2017. Over the same period, the number of Americans living in rural areas with access to such service increased by 85%. This progress has been fueled in part by an approximately $80 billion investment in network infrastructure in 2018, the highest annual amount in at least the last decade. Given the compelling evidence before the FCC, the commission finds for the third consecutive year that advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed on a reasonable and timely basis.