Analysis

With the 2010 Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), the National Telecommunications Infrastructure Association’s State Broadband Initiative (SBI) created State Broadband Offices to support efficient and creative use of broadband technology to improve states’ digital economic competitiveness. When the SBI grant program officially ended in 2015, many State Broadband Offices thrived through local funding, while others closed.

OpenVault just published its Broadband Insights Report for the end of the fourth quarter of 2021. As usual, the results are astounding and demonstrate the continued strong growth of household broadband usage. I think one of the most useful statistics from OpenVault is the average household usage of broadband; there were not many people in the industry in 2018 who would have believed that the average home usage in 2021 would be using over a half terabyte of data each month.

A recent report by BroadbandNow made the rounds in February 2022, with the authors concluding that the average price for broadband access across all major speed tiers for Americans has fallen, by an average of 31 percent or nearly $34/month, since 2016. At a glance, this is great news – perhaps affordable Internet access for all is within reach? Yet the reality is that this report from BroadbandNow, unfortunately, poorly frames the national broadband marketplace.

In July 2021, the Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau released its report on the state of the Lifeline marketplace. The aim of the report was to identify areas for FCC consideration regarding the continued transition of Lifeline from a program that primarily supports voice services to one with a greater focus on supporting broadband Internet access service. Unfortunately, there are three critical questions I noticed the FCC’s Lifeline report did not address:

The purpose of this toolkit is to provide consumer advocates with resources to help educate consumers about the Lifeline program and how to apply. To encourage and assist consumer outreach, USAC has created resources in this toolkit that organizations can use instead of creating outreach from scratch. Consumer advocacy groups, social service agencies, and other organizations that support low-income consumers are welcome to print and distribute any or all of the toolkit’s resources in their communities.

After hitting historic peaks in 2020, traffic on the Comcast network grew again in 2021. Data show a gradual shift throughout the year toward pre-pandemic traffic patterns. This included peak downstream traffic once again increasing faster than upstream traffic, and peak usage times shifting from earlier in the day to later in the evening. Peak downstream (download) traffic increased 11 percent over 2020 levels, while peak upstream (upload) traffic increased 5 percent.

Recent years have seen an explosion in demand for telehealth services, a trend accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, that has increased the bandwidth needs of rural health care providers. The Federal Communications Commission is proposing changes to its Rural Health Care Program rules that are designed to ensure that rural healthcare providers receive the funding necessary to access broadband and telecommunications services to provide vital healthcare services.

Home internet is one of the most maddening services in the United States. But since the pandemic showed just how bad things have become, we’re beginning to see some change. Decades of one failed policy show how far the US has to go to achieve better, fairer online access for all. Over the past two decades, government regulators have written and rewritten rules that have landed on a straightforward goal: that Americans who live in apartment buildings may pick their internet provider, even if the landlord has a preferred provider.

AT&T recently announced multi-gigabit broadband plans on its fiber connections. The company has priced 2-Gbps broadband at $110 per month and 5-Gbps broadband at $180. AT&T isn’t the first company to offer multi-gigabit broadband speeds and joins other large internet service providers (ISPs). For now, multi-gigabit broadband is mostly a marketing gimmick. It’s a way for an ISP to tell the public that its networks are fast.

The total projected collected interstate and international end-user revenue base to be used in determining the contribution factor for the Universal Service support mechanisms for 2Q2022 is $8,751,403,396.