Cable giants are only broadband option for 68 million Americans, study finds

Cable companies Comcast and Charter are the only broadband choice — at the FCC’s 25/3 Mbps definition — for a combined 68 million Americans and rarely compete with one another, a new study from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance finds. The report also finds that telecom companies only invest in areas where they face competition and that the cable and telco companies mostly compete in urban markets.

"The broadband market is broken," the report concludes. "Comcast and Charter maintain a monopoly over 68 million people. Some 48 million households (about 122 million people) subscribe to these cable companies, whereas the four largest telecom companies combined have far fewer subscribers — only 31.6 million households (about 80.3 million people). The large telecom companies have largely abandoned rural America — their DSL networks overwhelmingly do not support broadband speeds — despite years of federal subsidies and many state grant programs."

Read the full report here.

Links:

Comcast, Charter dominate US; telcos “abandoned rural America,” report says (Ars Technica, July 31, 2018)

Profiles of Monopoly: Big Cable and Telecom (Institute for Local Self-Reliance, July 31, 2018)