The $79.4 annual expenditure total is impressive considering the seismic economic disruptions and setbacks suffered by much of the U.S. economy in 2020. Last year's investment by U.S. broadband providers brings the total network capital investment by U.S. broadband providers since 1996 to a whopping $1.9 trillion. And as US Telecom's report points out, its estimates over the years likely are conservative since they exclude annual investment by small U.S. broadband providers as well as U.S. satellite broadband providers. Small providers and satellite providers made perhaps $2 billion in network investments in 2020.
As I and other Free State Foundation scholars have pointed out in prior publications, continuing strong investment enabled U.S. broadband networks to successfully carry surging data traffic induced by COVID fears and government-imposed lockdowns in 2020.
For more, see the 2020 Broadband Capex Report as well as a brief article about it by US Telecom's Mike Saperstein.
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