There Are Far More Americans Without Broadband Access than Previously Thought
State Laws Restricting Community Broadband Are Hurting US Communities During The Pandemic
from the do-not-pass-go,-do-not-collect-$200 dept
"We've talked for years about how telecom monopolies like Comcast and AT&T have ghost written laws in more than twenty states, banning or hamstringing towns and cities looking to build their own broadband networks. We've also noted with COVID clearly illustrating how broadband is essential for education, opportunity, employment, and healthcare, such restrictions are looking dumber than ever. . .
THE TAKE-AWAY: The solutions here aren't complicated, we just don't want to do them.
> We could easily ask voters if they want to discard the 20+ protectionist laws written by monopolies, letting local citizens decide local infrastructure issues themselves.
> We could beef up antitrust enforcement, and refuse to rubber stamp mindless telecom mergers that inevitably lead to more consolidation, less competition, and higher prices.
> We could embrace policies that upset incumbent monopolies by driving additional competition to market.
> We could reform campaign finance laws so AT&T and Comcast don't all but own countless state legislatures.
But we don't do that. Instead, we let monopolies write state and federal policy and laws with an eye on protecting the status quo. Laws that make disruption by smaller players expensive, cumbersome, and often impossible. We then throw billions of dollars at said monopolies for networks they routinely only half deploy. We rubber stamp harmful mergers and fail to hold monopolies accountable for much of anything. Once that's done, we then stand around with a dumb look on our collective faces wondering why US broadband is utterly mediocre in nearly every single metric that matters."
Filed Under: broadband, competition, covid, municipal broadband, pandemic, state's rights
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RELATED CONTENT
The State of Broadband in America, Q4 2020
Our final state of broadband report for 2020 concludes our quarterly exploration of the progress being made to bring every American online amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Key Findings
- Low-priced access expanded during the fourth quarter across many states as more providers expanded their lower cost offerings. 70% of Americans had access to low-priced wired broadband plans compared to 52% measured YoY in the 2019 Q4 report.
- Rhode Island remains the state with the highest percentage of residents with access to low-priced plans of speeds 100 Mbps download and 25 Mbps upload.
- While 78% of Americans have access to wired providers who report that they can service speeds of 100 Mbps download / 25 Mbps upload, only 30% of Americans have access to low-priced plans at that speed.
- For the first time, residents in Alaska have gained access to low-priced broadband plans. Despite this, less than 1% of the population has access. All 50 states plus the District of Columbia now have some level of access to low-priced plans.
- 21 states had improved or steady internet latency, compared to Q3. The state with the least latency is New Jersey, the one with the most is Hawaii.
Ninety-four ISPs added low-priced plans that were not available in Q3. National providers, such as CenturyLink and Xfinity were among them. For example, Xfinity Performance Starter and Performance Select plans launched in December. Colorado in particular saw massive gains in affordability access going from 3.45% access in Q3 to 80% in Q4 for basic broadband of 25 Mbps / 3 Mbps.
All 50 states and the District of Columbia now have at least some measure of access to low-price broadband, a first since we began tracking this threshold in 2019
About the data
Data for the 2020 Q4 BroadbandNow Report comes from publicly available plan and coverage data from more than 2,000 internet service providers in the fourth quarter of 2020. Wired broadband is defined as all cable, fiber, and DSL technologies. In this report we focused on measuring access to the FCC’s definition of broadband, which is 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speed, as well as BroadbandNow’s recommended increased standard for the changing digital needs of Americans of 100 Mbps download and 25 Mbps upload speed.
Low-priced plan coverage was based on what providers have reported on their most recent FCC Form 477 submission at the census block level. If a provider has indicated that they have coverage in a given census block, we assume that all of the provider’s national plans are also available in that block, as well as any regional plans serving those blocks. Plan pricing is based on the regular monthly rate offered of standalone internet plans. Promotional rates are only considered if that is the only advertised price publicly available. Speed test (RTT) data comes from M-Lab’s network diagnostic tool speed tests. . .
A Biden-era FCC is expected to revisit the controversial Restoring Internet Freedom Act that was passed under the Trump administration in 2018, as well as work to reverse reductions to the agency’s mainstay Lifeline program.
SpaceX preps for a wider Starlink launch
SpaceX completed four Starlink launches into low orbit in the final quarter of the year, bringing the total number of launched satellites to 955. The company spent the latter part of the year in private beta, testing internet services with consumers across the nation, including in Tribal communities. Looking to 2021, the company is likely to launch commercial services in some form.
FCC’s Funding Plans Solidify
The FCC’s new era of funding is officially underway with the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund recipients being announced. Among the biggest winners were wireless ISPs promising to deliver services to rural consumers that rival wired connections, alongside Starlink, which was awarded nearly $900 million in subsidies.
A Last Minute Push to Keep Americans Online
In December, the U.S. government passed another round of stimulus relief, including a new “Emergency Broadband Benefit” meant to help Amercans keep their internet connection active. The stimulus bill “invests $7 billion to increase access to broadband, including a new Emergency Broadband Benefit to help millions of students, families and unemployed workers afford the broadband they need during the pandemic.”
> Eligible households can receive up to $50 per month to pay for broadband services from participating providers.
> A total of $3.2 billion has been set aside for the program, which is currently set to end after the funds have been expended.
More RELATED CONTENT > Arizona Jan 11, 2021 — Arizona. HB 2814 Appropriates $5 million from the state General Fund for each of the fiscal years, FY 2021, FY 2022 and FY 2023, Funding to the Arizona Commerce Authority to provide broadband grants
There are also four earlier bills that were passed. Information reproduced here is from this source > https://www.ncsl.org/research/telecommunications-and-information-technology/broadband-2020-legislation.aspx
Broadband 2020 Legislation
With roughly 9 out of 10 adults in America using the internet, many consider it to be a necessity of modern life. Because access to the internet is unavailable or inadequate in parts of the country, states and the federal government are focusing on deploying broadband—the technologies that allow internet data to be transmitted at high speeds—as universally as possible.
In the 2020 legislative session, 43 states and Guam addressed broadband in issue areas such as educational institutions and schools, dig once, funding, governance authorities and commissions, infrastructure, municipal-run broadband networks, rural and underserved communities, smart communities and taxes. Thirty-four states enacted legislation or adopted resolutions: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
The box allows you to conduct a full text search or type the state name.
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