FCC: Up to 24 Million Americans Don't Have Broadband Access

In its Sixth Broadband Deployment Report, the FCC painted a decidedly grim picture of the state of universal broadband access in the United States. The Commission estimates that between 14 and 24 million Americans still lack access to broadband Internet. As a result, the Commission concluded — for the first time — that broadband is not "being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion," as directed by Congress.

In his response to the report, Chairman Julius Genachowski stated:

Taking account of the millions of Americans who, despite years of waiting, still have little prospect of getting broadband deployed to their homes, we must conclude that broadband is not being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion. Fortunately, the National Broadband Plan has charted a course to accelerate broadband investment and help ensure that all Americans can connect to the vital infrastructure of the 21st century.

The report also takes the long-overdue step of updated a key standard — speed — used to determine whether households are served by broadband. It upgrades the standard from 200 kilobits per second downstream to 4 megabits per second (Mbps) downstream and 1 Mbps upstream. This is a minimum speed generally required for video- applications, as well as basic web browsing and e-mail.

The FCC report also recommends major policy reforms, such as making public-private partnerships eligible for the universal service fund (USF).

Because broadband is essential for economic growth, civic engagement and global competitiveness, the Communication Workers of America strongly supports the FCC’s plan to reform the USF and encourages it to commit to 1 gigabit connections for anchor institutions.

Read our Fact Sheet on the benefits of broadband here.

FCC Finds 14 to 24 Million Americans Lack Access to Broadband (FCC)

Benefits of Broadband — PDF (Speedmatters)