Ookla Year-End 2023 Reports Shows Further Rise in U.S. Broadband Speeds

On January 16, Ookla released its Global Speed Index reports for December 2023, including for the United States. According to Ookla, median upload/download speeds in the U.S. for December 2023 were 227.27/26.59 Mbps for fixed broadband services and 111.01/9.68 Mbps for mobile broadband services. Those overall figures show significant improvement over Ookla's findings from March 2023 of 197.84/23.02 Mbps for fixed broadband services, and 81.26/9.44 Mbps for mobile broadband services. (For background, see my April 2023 blog post, "Ookla Reports Rising Fixed and Mobile Broadband Speeds in Early 2023.")

 

Ookla's December 2023 findings are yet another indicator of the success of the federal light-touch regulatory framework for broadband Internet access services, which encourages private market investment and innovation. That pro-free market approach was established in the FCC's 2017 Restoring Internet Freedom Order. Supporters of public utility regulation made dire predictions that the RIF Order would cause the Internet to slow to one word at a time or shuffle most Americans off into slow lanes while corporate elites enjoy fast lane privileges. The scare stories have proven totally false. 

 

On December 14, the Free State Foundation filed comments in the Securing and Safeguarding the Open Internet proceeding, recommending that the FCC stick to the pro-market policy of the RIF Order as the best way to promote continued advancements in broadband access for all Americans. The RIF Order's repeal of the agency's short-lived public utility regulation did not slow anyone’s speeds, and Ookla’s reports instead show that broadband speeds have continued to increase. FSF's comments urged the Commission to not reimpose public utility regulation on broadband Internet access services. 

Ookla Releases Updating Ranking of U.S. Fixed Broadband Provider Services

On July 17, Ookla released its U.S. Market Report for the second quarter of 2023, which ranks mobile and fixed broadband providers according to speeds and other service criteria. According to Ookla's Speedtest Intelligence® performance metrics, for Q2 of this year, Charter's Spectrum cable broadband service had the highest median download speed among fixed providers, at 243.02 Mbps. In a July 17 article, FierceTelecom reported that this is an increase from Q1, when Spectrum's median download speeds were 234.8 Mbps. For Q2, Cox ranked close second in median download speeds at 241.78 Mbps, Comcast's Xfinity was third with 233.25 Mbps and AT&T Internet was fourth with 210.12 Mbps. AT&T and Frontier were the two fixed providers for upload speeds, at 166.86 Mbps and 164.84, respectively. Ookla's Market Report also ranks U.S. fixed providers based on latency, consistency, and video. The report includes regional comparisons as well.

Certainly, the numbers shown in Ookla's Market Report are an improvement over figures cited in the FCC's 2022 Communications Marketplace Report as well as in my January 2023 Perspectives from FSF Scholars paper that reviewed the Commission's report. Continuing steady increases in fixed broadband speeds are predicated on strong network investment as well as network innovation. Ongoing and near-future rollouts of fiber and 10G cable broadband enabled by private market investment and innovation also will significantly boost upload and download speeds, latency, capacity, reliability, and security. To ensure further improvements in broadband network performance, the FCC should maintain its federal market-oriented policy towards broadband Internet access services that defines them as lightly-regulated "information services."

Ookla Reports Rising Fixed and Mobile Broadband Speeds in Early 2023

On April 17, Ookla released its Market Report for the United States for the first quarter of 2023. According to Ookla, during the first quarter of the year, Charter Communications' Spectrum was ranked highest among fixed broadband services with download speeds of 234.8 Mbps. Comcast was a close second for fixed providers with speeds of 232.85 Mbps. For mobile providers, T-Mobile ranked first with download speeds of 165.22 Mbps, and Verizon Wireless was second at 74.5 Mbps. Oookla's Market Report provides additional breakdowns for both fixed and mobile services for consistency and latency and performance in supporting video services. The report also includes rankings for fixed broadband by region and for major cities as well as separate ranking among mobile providers for 5G performance and availability.

Coinciding with the release of its U.S. Market Report for Q1 2023, Ookla also released updated findings for March 2023. Ookla found that median upload/download speeds in the U.S. for last month were 197.84/23.02 Mbps for fixed broadband services, and 81.26/9.44 Mbps for mobile broadband services.

The Ookla report's speed findings for early 2023 are an indicator of continuing improvements in broadband service capabilities and network deployment in the United States. The report's findings also are a reflection of the federal light-touch regulatory framework for broadband Internet access services, which encourages private market investment and innovation. Future improvements in broadband access are best achievable by maintaining the pro-free market approach embodied in the FCC's 2017 Restoring Internet Freedom Order. Additionally, Congress and the Commission take further steps to build on the progress being made in this space. My January 2023 Perspectives from FSF Scholars, "The 2022 Communications Marketplace Report: Timely FCC Action Could Accelerate Next-Gen Broadband Deployment," identified three such steps: (1) prioritize the lower 3 GHz band and other spectrum bands for repurposing for commercial services; (2) adopt fee caps and "shot clocks" on deployments of wireline facilities in state and local rights-of-way; and (3) ensure equitable access to broadband by prohibiting intentional discrimination, and not by imposing disparate impact liability. 

Ookla Report Shows U.S. Progress in 5G Mobile Wireless Speeds

The boost to mobile wireless speeds from 5G networks – and increasing use of C-band spectrum for 5G – are reflected in Ookla's Speedtest Global Index for the United States for the third quarter of 2022. According to Ookla: 

T-Mobile had the fastest median 5G download speed in the U.S. at 193.06 Mbps during Q3 2022, a slight increase over Q2 2022. Verizon Wireless remained second, and saw a slight increase to 119.80 Mbps in Q3 2022. AT&T remained third at 81.22 Mbps — a slight increase from Q2 2022.

For the third quarter of this year, Ookla found that the median download/upload speeds for mobile wireless broadband in the U.S. – encompassing 5G as well as earlier generation networks – was 68.34 Mbps/8.56 Mbps and the mean speeds were 141.54 Mbps/15.48 Mbps. Ookla's report also includes comparative evaluations of latency and video support capabilities by the three competing nationwide mobile wireless providers.

 

Again, speed and other performance figures can be expected to continue to improve by the end of this year and well into 2023 – particularly for 5G – as AT&T and Verizon continue to phase-in their licensed C-band spectrum for 5G services and T-Mobile brings online additional licensed spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band that it has acquired through the FCC's Auction 108. 

Mobile Broadband Speeds Now Match 2020 Fixed Speeds

When the Free State Foundation filed Comments in the FCC's 2020 Communications Marketplace Report proceeding, average fixed broadband download speeds were roughly 130 Mbps, according to Ookla. Today, the most recent Ookla data (May 2022) shows that average mobile broadband download speeds are 130 Mbps. So, in just two short years, mobile broadband speeds caught up to the performance of fixed networks in 2020. Of course, today speeds for fixed networks are higher than they were in 2020.

This fact highlights the growing senselessness of the Commission's continued refusal to recognize intermodal competition in the broadband marketplace. Rather than acknowledge that broadband providers of all stripes compete with each other, the Commission slices the broadband marketplace into separate techno-functional categories. Mobile wireless is its own market in the Commission's view, and that market excludes any competition from high-speed wireline deployments by cable and fiber providers.

The accelerating network performance of mobile broadband, likely driven by the rollout of 5G service, makes clear that broadband providers compete intermodally. Of course, as noted above, the speed of fixed networks also improved over the last two years, and now exhibit average download speeds above 220 Mbps, per Ookla's May 2022 data. But even if they hadn't, and mobile network speeds were par with fixed network speeds, it is more than reasonable to assume that many customers might have canceled their fixed subscriptions. The improvements made by mobile networks may have driven fixed networks to make their own upgrades to maintain their speed advantages.

That's clear evidence of intermodal competition.

The Commission should abandon its techno-functional categories and instead assess competition in the "broadband marketplace." That broader market definition would account for intermodal competition between fixed, mobile, satellite, and any other types of broadband providers. It will be increasingly difficult to ignore intermodal competition as more evidence of it emerges from the competitive broadband market conditions today.

Starlink's Performance Shows Prudence of Swift FCC Approval

Recent Ookla data measuring the performance of Starlink's low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite broadband network shows the prudence of the FCC's swift approval of LEO constellations. SpaceX's Starlink, the only operational satellite broadband network in LEO providing home broadband, posted industry-leading speeds and latency for Q3 2021. Most notably, Starlink's speeds and especially its latency are generally comparable to that of many fixed broadband networks, showing that, once sufficient LEO satellites are deployed, LEO constellations, realistically, can provide high quality connectivity to rural and hard-to-serve areas where building physical networks is cost-prohibitive.

Starlink posted 87.25 Mbps / 13.54 Mbps median broadband speeds with a median latency of 44 ms, far outpacing competitors HughesNet and Viasat, which operate broadband networks at higher orbital altitudes than LEO. Starlink's speeds are over 4.5 times faster than HughesNet (19.30 Mbps/ 2.54 Mbps) and Viasat (18.75 Mbps/ 2.96 Mbps) for both download and upload. And while fixed networks have superior speeds, Starlink comes far closer to the median fixed network speeds of 119.84 Mbps / 13.54 Mbps than its higher orbit competitors, which offer speeds that are roughly a fifth or sixth of median fixed network speeds.

But latency is where Starlink especially stands out. Starlink's median latency, 44 ms, is about 15 times smaller than the median latencies of its satellite competitors, and only 2.9 times larger than the median latency for fixed networks. High latency – meaning signal delay – has long characterized satellite networks, and this makes them less attractive options than terrestrial and wireless broadband. Broadband with high latency makes certain applications that depend on split-second connections like video games, voice and video calling, and livestreaming less usable and reliable. As Commissioner Brendan Carr noted in a 2018 statement approving part of Starlink's constellation, "[LEO satellites] promise lower latency connections because they typically orbit only a few hundred miles above Earth, as opposed to many thousands." Starlink's network is delivering on that promise at an early stage.

Starlink's high speeds and low latency are important because satellites generally provide global coverage, which makes Starlink a serious contender for providing affordable, high-quality service in rural and other hard-to-serve areas. Users simply need to install a dish on their home to receive satellite broadband, avoiding the expensive and often cost-prohibitive infrastructure buildouts needed to reach rural and other hard-to-serve areas. This is precisely the consumer demographic Starlink targets with its marketing. Its website states: "Starlink is ideally suited for areas where connectivity has been unreliable or completely unavailable." So far, Starlink has 145,000 customers, a figure that's quickly grown from the 90,000 it reported in July 2021.

Ookla does note that Starlink's service performance varies by region in the United States, ranging from about 45 Mbps download in some areas to 145 Mbps download in others. But as Starlink continues to launch satellites, its coverage and network capacity will improve. Starlink has FCC approval to deploy 12,000 satellites, but so far it only has roughly 2,000 in orbit. SpaceX has already launched more Starlink satellites this month.

Even though Starlink hasn't deployed its full constellation, its broadband performance is already stronger than median fixed speeds in multiple developed countries. Starlink's median speeds for Q3 2021 in Australia, Belgium, Germany, and the United Kingdom outperformed median speeds for fixed networks in those countries. This is largely because fixed broadband is much slower in those places than it is in United States, according to Ookla's measurements.

Starlink, the first operational LEO constellation, first applied for FCC approval in 2016. Nothing guaranteed a swift approval, and the Commission could have chosen to wait longer before approving the application. Such delay often denies lifechanging technologies to Americans. Thankfully, the Commission approved LEO constellations for Starlink and potential competitors Amazon, OneWeb, Boeing, and others, including some that already have exited the market.

Free State Foundation Director of Policy Studies Seth Cooper supported Starlink's approval back in 2018. I previously highlighted a planned backhaul deal between Amazon and Verizon that will start once Amazon's LEO constellation reaches orbit in the next few years.

Starlink's early performance metrics suggest that the FCC was smart to quickly approve LEO satellites. The Commission's swift approval and support for market competition has allowed Starlink and potentially others to serve the unconnected Americans our federal government has spent billions trying to reach over the last decade.

Ookla Insights: U.S. Leads World in 5G Availability

Ookla's report on global 5G speeds ranks United States 5G networks number one in the world for 5G availability, more than doubling the performance of networks in China, Canada, and almost the entire continent of Europe. This is an encouraging sign ahead of January 19th, the date when AT&T and Verizon will begin activating the high-capacity C-Band spectrum that should substantially boost U.S. 5G network speeds. But it also highlights the need to free more spectrum for 5G. 

Ookla defines 5G availability as the "percent of users on 5G-capable devices [who] spent the majority of their time on 5G," and the United States sits atop the world at 49.2%. This means that roughly half of all 5G device users in the U.S. had 5G connections during a majority of their time on wireless networks. China (20.1%), Canada (23.7%), Japan (7.6%), and the vast majority of European countries are far behind the U.S. on 5G availability, with only Netherlands (45.3%) and South Korea (43.8%) posting comparable availability above 40%.

The report also highlights that the U.S. lags behind other countries in median 5G speeds, but this is partly a function of spectrum policy and should be improved by fast-approaching carrier deployments of C-Band spectrum and other mid-band frequencies like the recently concluded 3.45 GHz auction. So far, U.S. 5G networks have largely relied on low-band spectrum for nationwide 5G deployment and high-band spectrum in certain dense urban settings. Mid-band spectrum, such as C-band spectrum and other nearby frequencies, has the combination of high-capacity and propagation over distances that leads to nationwide fast speeds.

Deployment of C-Band spectrum and other mid-band frequencies will also improve 5G speeds by densifying networks so a higher number of base stations each support fewer customers. The FCC should take additional actions to free mid-band spectrum for commercial use, such as setting a date for the 2.5 GHz auction and announcing auctions in additional bands, so U.S. 5G networks improve their speed ranking.

But the report also highlights that widespread 5G availability in the U.S. is in some ways more important than posting the fastest speeds. For example, Norway ranks second among countries for median 5G download speeds at 426.75 Mbps, but its availability is a mere 8.4%. This means 91.6% of Norwegians spend less than half their time on 5G when connected to wireless networks. This fact suggests that Norway's and other low-availability countries' top speed rankings are paper tigers – their 5G is fast but rarely used in real life. U.S. consumers are experiencing 5G far more often, and at high speeds, like the 160.41 Mbps median 5G speed Ookla measured in our nation's capital.

The United States' first place ranking for global 5G availability in Ookla's report is welcome news. The FCC should continue to act – especially by auctioning more mid-band spectrum – so the U.S. can also claim a top global ranking for speeds.

Ookla Reports Speed Increases for U.S. Fixed and Mobile Broadband

On July 8, Ookla released its "Q2 2020 Speedtest® United States Market Report." According to Ookla:

[M]edian download speed over mobile in the U.S. increased 15.8% between Q2 2019 and Q2 2020 to 29.00 Mbps. The median upload speed for mobile was 5.74 Mbps, down 15.2% from Q2 2019. 

Median download speed over fixed broadband increased 19.6% during the last year to 86.04 Mbps in Q2 2020, and median upload speed increased 1.5% to 11.86 Mbps in Q2 2020.

In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak and government lockdowns, these reported speed increases are welcome news. They also go to show the soundness of the FCC's pro-investment, pro-deployment, light-touch regulatory approach to broadband Internet access services.

Additionally, Ookla's report contains interesting comparative figures for fixed and wireless broadband Internet services according to speed and other metrics. This includes comparisons of 5G speeds and 5G device availability.