Broadband Affordability Research: 61% of US Can Get Low-Cost Service But Will This Last?

Sixty-one percent of the US population had low-priced wired broadband available to them in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to new broadband affordability research from BroadbandNow. Researchers defined low-priced service to include offerings priced at $60 or less. This was a substantial increase from the third quarter of 2019, when 52% of the US population had low-priced service available. They cautioned, however, that increased availability of low-priced broadband may be temporary because it may have been related to holiday shopping season deals. In fourth quarter, there were 16 states where at least 70% of the population had access to a low-cost plan, including three states where more than 80% of the population could get a low-cost plan. At the other end of the spectrum, there were five states in which no more than 9% of the population had access to a low-cost plan

 The percentage of Americans that had non-satellite fixed service at speeds at or above 25/3 Mbps increased slightly between the third and fourth quarter of 2019 – from 94.5% to 94.8%. The percentage of Americans that had non-satellite fixed service at speeds at or above 25/3 Mbps increased slightly between the third and fourth quarter of 2019 – from 94.5% to 94.8%.