Fixed and Wireless Broadband Market - Insights Statistics and Forecasts - USA

USA - Fixed and Wireless Broadband Market - Insights Statistics and Forecasts

The US still trails its OECD counterparts in terms of broadband penetration, speed and affordability. Nevertheless, the market is currently witnessing significant investment activity in fibre deployments, HFC upgrades and mobile broadband network rollout. Much of the investment in fibre is being undertaken by a significant number of smaller players and municipalities rather than the two key telcos, which are concentrating on a hybrid fibre/copper network and limiting future upgrades beyond what has already been achieved. Broadband services in most regions still lack effective competition, with the AT&T and Verizon managing an effective duopoly in many areas of the country. Municipal activity, often geared at breaking this stranglehold and introducing competition and innovation, continues to be stymied by lobbying pressure from these main telcos, which has led to almost half of the states banning or restricting municipal or state-led infrastructure projects.

A number of important policy statements have been made by the government and FCC indicating that policy-makers and regulators alike, concerned about the comparatively slow pace of US broadband developments, recognise the need for substantial structural change and regulatory reform. In addition, there is growing recognition of the importance of a trans-sectoral approach to broadband networks including, for instance, the health, education and energy sectors, in order to fully realise the benefits of the nascent digital economy.

This report provides overviews, analysis, relevant statistics and subscriber forecasts on the US cable, DSL, FttP, WiFi and WiMAX broadband markets. It also includes an updated analysis on recent court rulings affecting net neutrality.

Key developments:

Liberty Media to spin off new Liberty Broadband Group; FCC approves $2 billion to improve WiFi to schools; AT&T joins the Fon network in Poland and Portugal; Hotspot 2.0 service launch in Bay area; AT&T rolls out a national fixed-wireless service leveraging its LTE network; Verizon stops selling stand-alone DSL service; NTIA reports on funding progress; FCC revises rules to allow WCS license holders to use 30MHz of spectrum in the 2.3GHz band; FCC invites testing for migration from copper to fibre infrastructure; Sprint makes bid for remaining 50% of Clearwire; new rules to shape e-health developments; WhiteFi launches using analogue TV spectrum; FCC issues Gigabit City Challenge'; telcos' operating and financial data to Q1 2014; market developments to mid-2014.

Companies included in this report include:

Clearwire; Sprint; AT&T; Verizon; MetroPCS; US Cellular; Qwest; CenturyLink; Frontier; Windstream; Fairpoint; Cincinnati Bell; Comcast; Google; HughesNet; ViaSat