The State of US and European Broadband Prices and Deployment

This analysis evaluates claims of a “broadband affordability crisis.” First, we review several international comparisons of broadband prices alongside the data on differing deployment. Any consideration of how US broadband prices stack up must take into account such deployment differences as well. Second, we provide a new analysis showing how broadband and telecom industry revenues have significantly declined as a share of the overall economy. Major findings include:

• US broadband providers provide much better coverage than their European counterparts.
• The distribution of broadband service at various speeds is extremely uneven in European countries compared to the US.
• European broadband providers have been underspending their US counterparts for years, focusing on dense cities rather than the more-expensive-to cover, low-density areas.
• Total broadband and telecommunications revenues have grown much slower than the economy as a whole, but their services have become far cheaper.