American Broadband Network Prices are Competitive, Contrary Claims Don’t See the Full Picture

American broadband networks are among the best performing in the world. They showed their strength and reliability throughout the pandemic. Private investments into these networks have made them better performing and more affordable for broadband customers. Claims against these networks cite the higher prices of U.S. networks when compared to other nations, but this critique misses the bigger picture.

Criticisms fail to account for quality of service, product features, the difficult American terrain and low population density that raise the price of deployment costs. The United States still ranks the 2nd cheapest among Organization for Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries when adjusted for factors such as cost, demographic, and quality differences.

The Open Technology Institute stated that “standardizing costs and speeds while also factoring in differences in population density reveals that U.S. providers on average advertise similar prices for similar speeds as European providers.”

U.S. providers offer fair prices to their consumers, especially considering Americans use more broadband data than any other country, with U.S. lines carrying 60% more data than Europe’s lines. A holistic view of broadband coverage and providers identifies American providers as high performing at a competitive price.

That is why TAPP applauds the investments made to expand the reach of U.S. broadband providers to ensure that every American is connected to reliable and high-speed internet.