2024 Communications Marketplace Report

The Federal Communications Commission is required to publish a Communications Marketplace Report every two years that assesses the state of competition across the broader communications marketplace. The FCC must evaluate competition to deliver voice, video, audio, and data services among providers of telecommunications, providers of commercial mobile service, multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), broadcast stations, providers of satellite communications, Internet service providers (ISPs), and other providers of communications services.  As part of its evaluation, the FCC must consider all forms of competition, including “the effect of intermodal competition, facilities-based competition, and competition from new and emergent communications services.”  The FCC also must assess whether laws, regulations, regulatory practices, or marketplace practices pose a barrier to competitive entry into the communications marketplace or to the competitive expansion of existing providers of communications service. This 2024 Communications Marketplace Report assesses the state of all forms of competition in the communications marketplace; the state of deployment of communications capabilities, including advanced telecommunications capability; and barriers to competitive entry, including entry barriers for entrepreneurs and other small businesses. As the FCC observed in 2022, the U.S. communications marketplace has experienced significant changes in recent years, beginning with fixed broadband.  The federal government has directed billions in funding for broadband deployment and adoption, culminating in the $65 billion investment in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and millions have been connected through these and related programs. The FCC’s National Broadband Map now shows the public where broadband is and is not available at a more granular and detailed level than ever before.  And new technologies, in particular 5G fixed wireless and low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites provide additional intermodal options, especially for consumers in rural areas.  Nevertheless, more than a third of Americans have only one provider of high-speed broadband or lack access altogether.  For its part, the Commission has acted to increase competition and protect consumers in the marketplace, by mandating easy-to-understand consumer broadband lab