Broadband Definitions Always Change

Everyone expects that the working definition of broadband will continue to change over time. In the U.S. market, for example, the official national government definition is a minimum of 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream, with proposals to boost that minimum to 100 Mbps.

The real pushback has been against an immediate shift to symmetrical 100-Mbps speeds, which would imperil most ISPs in the upstream direction.

Of course, most people use internet access operating vastly faster than the current minimums. 

If 98 percent of U.S. homes can buy internet access at the defined minimum from a cabled terrestrial network, that still leaves two percent that cannot, of course. Satellite and fixed wireless services reach virtually al lthe rest of the locations with service at the required minimums.

Changing the definition of “broadband” will likely increase the percentage of homes unable to purchase “broadband.” And that might boost the percentage of U.S. customers unable to purchase broadband access to as much as 16 percent or so of locations. 

Of course, supply and demand are always changing. 

About half of U.S. internet access customers buy services running between 200 Mbps and 400 Mbps as of June 2022.  That is a shift. Until recently, about half of the customers purchased services running between 100 Mbps and 200 Mbps. 

Roughly 70 percent of fixed network broadband customers purchase service at speeds of 200 Mbps or higher. Customers who buy gigabit or faster service have reached 13 percent, while customers of services operating between 500 Mbps and 900 Mbps are six percent of total. 

source: Openvault 

The definition change largely will affect any ISPs who currently sell service that will not match the 100-Mbps definition, especially some satellite and telco ISPs who use copper access networks. Adjusting the definitions might mean some providers, at some locations, do not qualify for broadband subsidies. 

In the U.S. market, for all the complaints we hear, gigabit speeds now are available to more than 88 percent of all U.S. homes, according to the Federal Communications Commission. Even if one disagrees with that estimate, most consumers in the U.S. market actually buy services operating far faster than the minimum. 

Other estimates peg the percentage of homes with cable high-speed access at 90 percent. And reported uptake of gigabit speeds in rural areas is far higher than what most likely believe. 

Consider rural telco networks. “Respondents to this year’s survey report an average of 4,467 residential and 469 business fixed broadband connections in service,” NTCA says, with an  average of 7,581 serviceable locations. 

“On average, three-quarters (75 percent) of serviceable locations are served by fiber to the home (FTTH) in 2021; this is an increase of 5.1 percentage points from the prior year’s survey, the latest Broadband/Internet Availability report issued by NTCA says. 

The point is that “broadband” definitions have been changing for decades. 50 years ago, broadband was defined as any data rate of 1.5 Mbps or faster. 30 years ago the working definition had moved up to perhaps 10 Mbps. The current Federal Communications Commission definition is 25 Mbps. 

But very few customers buy services operating that slow.