Are US broadband prices rising or falling?

There’s no question US consumers are relying more heavily on broadband services in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. But are the costs for those services rising or falling? Well, the answer depends on who you ask and what metric you’re using to measure “cost.” In February 2022, independent research firm BroadbandNow published a report which found broadband prices in the country fell significantly between the first quarter of 2016 and the fourth quarter of 2021. According to the report, the cost of higher-tier services of 500 Mbps or above fell the fastest, dropping 42 percent to an average of $59.22. Meanwhile, the average price for service offering speeds of between 200-499 Mbps decreased 35 percent to $34.39 and the cost of speeds between 100-199 Mbps fell 33 percent to $32.35. Fiber tended to be cheaper than cable offerings across speed tiers. However, a fresh study released by the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in March determined fixed broadband prices in both the US and across the world more generally rose in 2021 “after years of steady decline.” It measured cost in terms of the price in US dollars and as a percentage of gross national income (GNI). While the US still met the UN’s GNI target in 2021, the ITU noted “consumers in low-income countries must pay 28 times more, in relative terms, than those in high-income economies” for their fixed broadband service. If prices continue to rise, it warned “the risk is that a significant portion of the world's population will be left behind: those who face a trade-off between purchasing internet access and meeting other basic needs.”