Monday, April 22, 2024
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FCC Commissioner Carr: New Data Confirm Internet Isn't Broken
Achieving Digital Equity in the U.S. Virgin Islands
Nearly 3 million Californians at risk of losing home internet service as subsidy expires
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Achieving Digital Equity in the U.S. Virgin Islands | Read below | Grace Tepper | Analysis | Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Platforms/Social Media
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Affordable Connectivity Program
The Affordable Connectivity Program, which was created after the pandemic forced many Americans to turn to the internet to connect with work and school, has 23 million enrollees nationwide — 1 in 6 U.S. households — including nearly 3 million in California. Since 2021, it has provided a $30 monthly subsidy for low-income households and $75 for those on tribal lands. But the $14.2 billion funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has run out. April 2024 was the last month of full program benefits, but households could receive a partial discount in May. In a letter to Congress, Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel warned that not funding the program would have widespread impact, especially for senior citizens, veterans, schoolchildren and residents of rural and tribal communities. “Households across the country are now facing hard choices about what expenses they have to cut, including food and gas, to maintain their broadband access, with some households doubtful they can afford to keep their broadband service at all,” she wrote.
When the Federal Communications Commission ended the Obama Administration’s failed, two-year experiment with these heavy-handed regulations back in 2017, Title II advocates guaranteed that doing so would literally break the Internet. They claimed that broadband prices would spike, that you would be charged for each website you visited, and that the Internet itself would slow down. None of this was true. Broadband speeds increased, prices decreased, competition intensified, and years of record-breaking infrastructure builds brought millions across the digital divide. Here is the latest data:
- Median fixed download speeds in the U.S. have increased by more than five-fold or approximately 430% since 2017, according to Ookla data.
- Median mobile download speeds have increased by more than seven-fold or approximately 647% since 2017, according to Ookla data.
- The United States has leapfrogged other countries since 2017 and now ranks among the highest in the world for fixed, mobile, and 5G broadband speeds, according to Ookla data.
- In real terms, the prices for Internet services have dropped by about 9% since the beginning of 2018.
- On the mobile broadband side alone, real prices have dropped by roughly 18% since 2017.
- And for the most popular broadband speed tiers, real prices are down 54%, and for the fastest broadband speed tiers, prices are down 55%, over the past 8 years.
- In the four years following the 2017 Title II repeal, the percentage of Americans with access to two or more high-speed, fixed ISPs increased by about 30%—up from 229 million to approximately 295 million, according to FCC measures.
- Entirely new players and forms competition have also emerged since 2017, including a new generation of high-speed LEO satellite services plus fixed wireless and 5G offerings.
- In 2022, broadband builders laid over 400,000 route miles of fiber, a more than 50% increase over 2016 numbers. In 2023, fiber was stretched to 9 million new U.S. households, setting a new all-time record for fiber-to-the-home deployments in a single year.
- The number of outdoor small cell nodes has increased by over four-fold from 100,000 in 2017 to 466,850 by year end 2023, according to industry data.
- Record breaking buildout was supported in part by record breaking new investment. In 2022, the broadband industry invested a record $102.4 billion in U.S. communications infrastructure, which represents a 21-year high for investment and a 19% year-over-year increase, according to industry data.
The U.S. Virgin Islands' Next Generation Network (viNGN) released the draft U.S. Virgin Islands Digital Equity Plan (USVIDEP) for public comment. Being disconnected from a connected world is not new to the U.S. Virgin Islands. The USVIDEP presents an ambitious approach to how the Territory can become "digitally resilient" and fully participate in this digital age through intentional investments in affordable, reliable internet; devices; opportunities to develop digital skills and access technical support; inclusive, online territorial resources; and how to be safe online. The vision of the USVIDEP is to create a Territory that is digitally resilient. One where Virgin Islanders have access to the same range of digital resources as Mainlanders, without having to leave the Islands to “experience the internet.” To achieve this ambitious vision, the USVIDEP strives to ensure that all Virgin Islanders have affordable, high-speed internet—both in their homes and at the places where they gather; and the digital tools, devices, resources, and cyber protection to fully participate in an evolving digital world.
Company News
Spectrum Launches Gigabit Broadband, Mobile, TV and Voice Services in Charleston County (SC)
Spectrum announced the launch of Spectrum Internet, Mobile, TV and Voice services to 400 homes and small businesses in Charleston County (SC). Spectrum’s newly constructed fiber-optic network buildout in Charleston County is part of the company’s approximately $5 billion RDOF-related investment in unserved rural communities, partly offset by $1.2 billion in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction. The company’s RDOF expansion will provide broadband access to 1.3 million customer locations across 24 states in the coming years. Spectrum has also won more than $700 million in state broadband expansion subsidies, which, combined with Spectrum investment, will connect another 300,000 homes and small businesses.
Benton (www.benton.org) provides the only free, reliable, and non-partisan daily digest that curates and distributes news related to universal broadband, while connecting communications, democracy, and public interest issues. Posted Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are factually accurate, their sometimes informal tone may not always represent the tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang (headlines AT benton DOT org), Grace Tepper (grace AT benton DOT org), and Zoe Walker (zwalker AT benton DOT org) — we welcome your comments.
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