Consumer research conducted recently by the Leichtman Research Group (LRG) confirms two trends: one, that the number of Americans with broadband Internet access at home continues to grow; and two, that in 2020 the amount of time spent online has increased dramatically.
The FCC in April released the 2020 Broadband Deployment Report. As Free State Foundation Director of Policy Studies and Senior Fellow Seth L. Cooper highlighted in a May 11 Perspectives from FSF Scholars, the report showed that 94.4 percent of the U.S. population had access to broadband at the end of 2018. A recent telephone survey demonstrates that the number of consumers subscribing to broadband is similarly large and still expanding.
In a December 28 press release, LRG reports that 86 percent of U.S. households currently subscribe to Internet access service, the vast majority of which – 97 percent – meets or exceeds the FCC's definition of "broadband" (that is, 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream). That is a 5 percent increase over just 5 years. An additional 7 percent access the Internet on a smartphone.
LRG also found that, no doubt in response to the COVID-19 public health crisis, Americans are spending substantially more time online: 5.3 hours per day in 2020 versus 3.7 hours a day in 2019. Fortunately, U.S. broadband infrastructure has taken this heightened demand in stride. Thanks to the FCC's light-touch regulatory oversight, broadband network operators have made the private investments required to respond to competitive challenges and unforeseeable increases in demand.
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