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2025 Year-End Broadband Report: Business Broadband Technology Trends – Focus on the SMB

Publisher Independence Research
Published Jan 29, 2026
Length 10 Pages
SKU # INDR20824708

Description

This report analyzes how broadband performance requirements and technology preferences among U.S. small, medium, and mid-market businesses have evolved from 2020 to 2025, and how those shifts will shape broadband technology adoption through 2030. Using Independence Research survey data and forecast modeling, the report highlights the rapid migration toward gigabit and multi-gigabit speeds, the rising importance of symmetric upstream/downstream performance, and a measurable shift in business attitudes toward fiber, fixed wireless access (FWA), and mobile-delivered internet.

The analysis compares SMBs (1–99 employees) with mid-market firms (100–999 employees), showing where demand diverges most sharply in the multi-gigabit tier. It then projects how these performance needs will accelerate the decline of legacy technologies (DSL, cable modem, T-1/DIA, managed Ethernet) while driving substantial growth in FTTP, FWA, and mobile-only configurations between 2024 and 2030.

The report concludes with detailed establishment forecasts by technology and business size segment, providing actionable insight for service providers, infrastructure vendors, and policymakers focused on the evolving SMB broadband opportunity.

Table of Contents

10 Pages
1. Introduction
2. Downstream Speed Trends: From Megabits to Multi-Gigabit (2020 vs. 2025)
3. Upstream Speed Expectations: The Rise of Two-Way Broadband
4. Business Internet Speed Requirements – Total Market (2025)
5. SMB Speed Requirements Analysis
6. Mid-Market Speed Requirements Analysis
7. What’s Different? — SMB vs. Mid-Market
8. Business Internet Technology Preferences: 2020 vs. 2025
9. SMB vs. Mid-Market Technology Attitudes
10. 2025–2030 U.S. SMB Broadband Forecast
11. U.S. SMB Broadband Technology Trends: 2024–2030 (Establishment Model)
12. Key Growth Technologies (FTTP, FWA, Mobile-Only)
13. Technologies in Decline (DSL, Cable, T-1/DIA, Managed Ethernet, Satellite)
14. Small Business (1–19) Forecast Breakdown
15. Medium Business (20–99) Forecast Breakdown
16. Mid-Market (100–999) Forecast Breakdown
17. Conclusion

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