New Broadband Report Shows U.S. Adoption at 68%

By Chris McGovern, Manager, Research Development, Connected Nation

Coinciding with yesterday’s launch of the National Broadband Map, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) also released a new report that may garner less attention, but is still important to the national broadband discussion. This report, titled Digital Nation: Expanding Internet Usage, shows that while between 90% and 95% of households have broadband service available to them, only 68% of households actually subscribe. While this percentage is up from 63.5% of households last year, it still means that between 25 and 31 million households have the option to access broadband, but choose not to.

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This report echoes Connected Nation’s findings that rural households, the elderly, minority residents, and adults with disabilities are less likely to subscribe to broadband, and the top barrier to broadband adoption remains the belief that they do not need home broadband service. At a state level, the broadband adoption figures that the NTIA reports are very similar to those found in surveys conducted by Connected Nation.