Substantial Profits in the Broadband Ecosystem: A Look at the Evidence

The Phoenix Center released a report claiming the profitability of the larger broadband service providers (BSPs) is generally equal to or below average for firms in the S&P 500. The report also finds that content firms like Google and EBay are substantially more profitable than BSPs, implying the BSPs are not benefiting as much as others in the Internet eco-system from the surge in broadband adoption and use. Across all measures of profitability, Google and Ebay are two-to-four times more profitable than the better performing broadband providers.