The US' Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has updated and released its latest report on Internet access service subscribership in a bid to better monitor these trends. Titled 'Internet Access Services: Status as of June 2009', the report is seen to reflect the evolution of performance standards and goals for broadband.
The new report includes for the first time detailed data on the number of Internet connections at speeds that approximate the national broadband availability target recommended by the National Broadband Plan. It also focuses on multiple and higher speed tiers, rather than on the FCC's historical categories of 'high speed' or 'advanced services'.
According to the report, as of June 2009, out of a total of 71 million fixed - as opposed to mobile - connections to households, only 44 percent met or exceeded the speed tier that most closely approximates the universal availability target set in the National Broadband Plan of 4 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream. The number of mobile wireless service subscribers with data plans for full Internet access increased by 40 percent over the first six months of 2009, to 35 million. Cable modem connections increased by 3 percent to 41 million and aDSL by 1 percent to 31 million in the first six months of 2009. The report further notes that a 23 percent increase in fibre connections, to 4 million, was the largest rate of increase among fixed-location technologies. Satellite Internet connections increased by 6 percent to 1 million.
The data are based on information submitted to the FCC every six months by providers on FCC Form 477. The full report can be downloaded at www.fcc.gov/wcb/stats.
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