Broadband Deployment - Fixed v. Mobile

In February, the FCC Chairman, Ajit Pai, commented on a draft 2019 Broadband Deployment Report (due to be voted on in a few weeks by the Commission). Pai stated that the number of Americans lacking access to a fixed broadband connection meeting the FCC’s benchmark speed of 25 Mbps/3 Mbps dropped from 26.1 million to 19.4 million.  Pai stated that “For the past two years, closing the digital divide has been the FCC’s top priority.  We’ve been tackling this problem by removing barriers to infrastructure investment, promoting competition, and providing efficient, effective support for rural broadband expansion through our Connect America Fund.” However, in recent days, those numbers and claims are being called into question as the self-reported data from some ISPs may have been inflated.

In anticipation of the new data, let’s look back at last year’s numbers.

With the exception of Alaska, every state had greater than 93% access to mobile broadband (5 mbps/1 mbps) service.  42 states had greater than 99% access to mobile broadband service.

In Connecticut, with just 12% of its population living in rural areas, 99% (100%) of the population had access to high speed fixed (mobile) broadband service.  Mississippi, with over 50% of its population living in rural areas, only had 72% (99%) of its population with access to fixed (mobile) broadband service. 

Among the over 3000 counties in the 50 states, 94% had access to high speed mobile service.  That percentage dropped to just 36% when looking at access to fixed broadband service. 

74% of counties had rural populations that exceeded 35 percent.  Among counties with greater than 35% rural, 22% (92%) had access to fixed (mobile) broadband service.