The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is poised to reverse course on a measure adopted last year that set new benchmarks for broadband Internet service in the United States.
Next month, the FCC will vote on a proposal to roll back a requirement that Internet service providers eventually offer Gig-speed Internet in order to market their service as “broadband” under federal definitions. The long-term goal was approved in early 2024 when the FCC modified the current definition of broadband to involve download speeds at or exceeding 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds at or over 20 Mbps, an increase from prior speeds of 25 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload.
The FCC never set a timetable for its audacious Gig-speed Internet goal, but the agency’s intent at the time was to influence federal grants earmarked for the further development of broadband infrastructure across the country. Land-based fiber installations are among the few present-day technologies that can support Gig-speed Internet at scale, and the thinking was that raising the definition over time would encourage further broadband development, especially if federal funding was attached to it.
But that was when the FCC had a Democratic majority. Today, the Republicans are in charge, and current FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has long signaled his interest in a “technology neutral” approach to broadband subsidies — one that also involves wireless carriers and satellite providers like Elon Musk’s Starlink.
In a fact sheet circulated this week, Carr said maintaining the long-term Gig-speed, Internet goal was inconsistent with how Americans actually use the Internet today. He also warned that tying federal subsidies to certain broadband definitions would “risks skewing the market by unnecessarily potentially picking technological winners and losers.”
“At present, it is impossible to predict long-term technological developments and the evolution of consumer preferences,” Carr wrote. “Further, assuming a long-term goal of 1,000/500 Mbps may be unreasonably prejudicial to technologies such as satellite and fixed wireless that presently do not support such speeds.”
Few consumer technologies actually require Gig-speed Internet to work reliably — some of the most-demanding applications, including streaming video and online gaming, work in most households under the FCC’s current broadband definition.
The vote next month would not undo the current broadband speed definitions, but would eliminate the long-term goal of requiring Internet providers offer Gig-speed Internet to market their service as “broadband.”
“Prejudicial to technologies such as satellite and fixed wireless that presently do not support such speeds. We believe it prudent to continue to monitor technological developments and consumer preferences and adapt our current benchmark, as well as relevant high-cost support programs, accordingly,” Carr said.
The looming vote comes at a time when nearly $43 billion in federal subsidies are already being doled out to states through the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program. States with the highest populations, including Texas ($3.3 billion) and California ($1.8 billion), are set to receive some of the most money from the BEAD Program, based on various needs.
