Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Report Touts Benefits of Fiber Broadband Speeds and Pricing for Americans

On August 23, the Fiber Broadband Association released a report titled "A Detailed Review: The Status of U.S. Broadband and the Impact of Fiber Broadband." The report was prepared by Michael C. Render of market research and consulting firm RVA, LLC. It contains several interesting data points regarding broadband Internet access and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) services in America.  

Relying on data from Pew Research, the report found that about 92% of Americans have Internet access at home, with 77% having wired service and 15% with wireless service. In terms of market share, the report found that about 49% of Americans with Internet access at home subscribed to cable broadbands, 21.3% subscribed to FTTH services, 13.1% still subscribed to DSL services, 11.7% subscribed to mobile wireless services, 3.1% subscribed to fixed wireless services, and 0.9% subscribed to satellite broadband services. Notably, many cable subscribers are actually served by FTTH services. 

 

On a side note, one can expect the market share for DSL to decline and for fiber as well as fixed wireless connections to rise over the next few years. And it will be interesting to see how the future rollout of multi-gigabit 10G cable broadband platform will impact broadband market share in the times ahead. 

 

Additional data points contained in the report include:

  • "The average download speed experienced by users as tested in the annual FBA/ RVA random survey of Internet users…has increased from about 4 Mbps download to 121 Mbps from 2009 to 2022." 
  • "Average U.S. upload speeds have increased from about 0.4 Mbps to 26 Mbps in the same period. The upload to download ratio was 11% in 2009 and has increased to 26% in 2022."
  • Average download/upload speeds for FTTH services clock at 199 Mbps/75 Mbps.
  • "The cost per provided Mbps (cost divided by the number of Mbps received downstream) has decreased very dramatically from about $9.00 to about $0.55 since 2010." 

The report is available on the FBA's website