The FCC is raising the bar for internet providers promising ‘broadband’ service

Summary

• The FCC is raising its broadband speed benchmark to 100Mbps downloads.
• The updated guidance also requires ISPs to reach upload speeds of 25Mbps in order to advertise their service as “broadband.”
• New marketing regulations may hold companies accountable for broadband speed improvements.

In 2023, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced plans to open an additional 850MHz of spectrum within its 6GHz band. Specifically targeting low-power devices, the goal was to allow for fast transfer speeds between nearby devices. This spurred several companies into a frenzy under the assumption that it could greatly expand Wi-Fi capabilities. However, these types of changes often shed light on an existing problem — the lack of high-speed internet in certain areas of the country. Now, the FCC is updating its policies once again, and it’s doing so with these regions in mind.

The FCC has announced that it is increasing the broadband speed benchmark from 25Mbps downloads and 3Mbps uploads to 100Mbps downloads and 20Mbps uploads. This will be the first time an adjustment has been made to the standards since 2015, when they were updated to the 25Mbps/3Mbps mark from a previous threshold of 4Mbps/1Mbps.

In conjunction with the announcement, the FCC cited data to support its reasoning for the change — about 45 million Americans still lack access to 100Mbps/20Mbps fixed service, for instance, as well as 35Mbps/3Mbps 5G mobile service. In particular, mobile service seems to be lagging — the FCC noted that mobile 5G at a minimum speed of 35Mbps/3Mbps still hasn’t been accessible to 36% of Americans residing in rural areas. Generally speaking, 9% of Americans lack this rate of mobile service. The FCC concluded that the rate at which telecom companies are expanding access to these resources is simply not “reasonable,” with large gaps in coverage still persisting.

Marketing regulations could spur real change

While the FCC technically can’t force telecom companies to boost their speeds to meet these new broadband standards, they can play a role in how they market their services (via Engadget). If a company doesn’t want to improve its broadband speeds to meet the new requirements, it won’t be able to market its service as “broadband.” There is no timetable as to when businesses need to comply with these measures. If they want to continue using the terminology, however, the new measure will benefit internet users who gain a better understanding of their service.