NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association today released its “2023 Broadband/Internet Availability Survey Report,” highlighting the ongoing efforts of rural broadband providers to deliver better broadband services to rural Americans.
Survey highlights include:
- NTCA members continue to deploy fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) networks that empower increasingly higher downstream and upstream speeds in rural communities. Approximately 84% of respondents’ customers on average can receive downstream speeds greater than or equal to 100 Mbps, with over 67% of customers on average having access to Gigabit downstream speeds. Upload speeds that are important for critical user applications like video conferencing, remote work and school continue to increase as well, with nearly 82% on average realizing upload speeds of 100 Mbps or higher and 61% of customers on average having access to Gigabit upstream capability. These improvements in customer experience are driven by continuing efforts to expand the reach of robust and reliable underlying networks. The average proportion of customers served by this year’s respondents via fiber connections is nearly 84%, as well.
- Customers are eager to subscribe to higher speeds as they become available. Nearly 60% of respondents’ customers on average subscribe to 100 Mbps downstream broadband or better, up from just over 49% in the 2022 survey — and for the second consecutive year, the 2023 survey found that subscriptions for services between 100 Mbps and 1 Gig downstream have become more popular than services between 25 and 100 Mbps.
“NTCA’s Broadband/Internet Availability Survey has long tracked how our members have consistently led the charge in deploying the best possible broadband in deeply rural areas,” said NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield. “This year’s survey reinforces and underscores NTCA members’ abiding commitment to the communities they serve, advancing broadband built to last in rural America, and highlights how rural consumers are making greater use of these services. But as our members know well and as the survey also highlights, the mission of service is just beginning once initial deployment is done. We need to sustain these foundational efforts so that rural consumers have access to affordable broadband that keeps pace with their escalating demands for many years to come.”
The 2023 Broadband/Internet Availability Survey was conducted in August 2023, and 36% of NTCA’s members responded.