Today:   FCC Report on Internet Access Service, FCC Report on Voice Subscribership, FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC)

FCC Report on Internet Access Service

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau released a report summarizing information about Internet access connections in the United States as of June 30, 2016 as collected by FCC Form 477.  The report includes data on total and residential Internet access connections by downstream and upstream speed, by technology, by geography, and over time.  The data is presented on a nationwide and state-level basis and includes data on the subscribership differences among counties and census tracts.  It also includes an analysis of the correlations between subscribership ratios and various demographic measures.  Maps depicting the number of fixed connections per 1,000 households by census tract and the number of fixed providers by census block are available here.

Among other things, the Report shows that:

• The total number of Internet connections increased by about 8% between June 2015 and June 2016 to 369 million.  Most of the growth was attributable to increased mobile Internet access subscribership.  Mobile Internet connections increased 10% year-over-year to 265 million in June 2016, while the number of fixed connections grew to 104 million – up 4% from June 2015. 
• The percentage of fixed connections with a downstream speed of at least 25 Mbps grew from 24% (or 23 million connections) in June 2013 to 57% (or 59 million connections) in June 2016.  Over the same period, the percentage of fixed connections with slower downstream speeds of less than 3 Mbps decreased from 18% (or 17 million connections) in June 2013 to 5% (or 5 million connections) in June 2016.

FCC Report on Voice Subscribership

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau also released a report summarizing the information collected on Form 477 about telephone services as of June 30, 2016.  The report shows continued growth in subscribership to interconnected VoIP and mobile voice services and continued decline in subscribership to traditional wired telephone services.  For instance:

• In June 2016, there were 62 million end-user switched access lines in service, 60 million interconnected VoIP subscriptions, and 338 million mobile subscriptions in the United States, or 460 million retail voice telephone service connections in total.
• From 2013 to 2016, interconnected VoIP subscriptions increased at a compound annual growth rate of 10%, mobile voice subscriptions increased at a compound annual growth rate of 3%, and retail switched access lines declined at 11% per year.
• Of the 123 million wireline retail voice telephone service connections (including both switched access lines and interconnected VoIP subscriptions) in June 2016, 66 million (or 54%) were residential connections and 56 million (or 46%) were business connections.
• The 66 million wireline residential connections in June 2016 were: 37% ILEC switched access  lines, 46% non-ILEC interconnected VoIP subscriptions, 15% ILEC interconnected VoIP subscriptions, and 2% non-ILEC switched access lines.
• The 56 million wireline business connections were: 43% ILEC switched access lines, 31% non-ILEC interconnected VoIP subscriptions, 5% ILEC interconnected VoIP subscriptions, and 21% non-ILEC switched access lines.

FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) Kickoff Meeting

The BDAC met for the first time on April 21, 2017.  Addressing the BDAC, FCC Chairman Pai reiterated the mission of the BDAC, to give the FCC recommendations on ways to spur broadband deployment and reduce barriers to investment.  He noted the BDAC will be asked to develop two model codes, one for municipalities and one for states, that want to encourage deployment and competitive entry in their jurisdictions.  He said the guidelines should be “forward-looking and fair, and that balance legitimate interests of state and local governments with the ever-growing demands of the American public for better, faster, and cheaper broadband.”  Pai said the BDAC will also be asked to make recommendations on how to promote competitive access to broadband infrastructure, including utility poles.  This includes not only ways to ease access but also ways to speed up deployment on federal lands.

Commissioners O’Rielly and Clyburn also made remarks at the meeting.

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The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of a TMI Briefing.