The Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) has released its annual Broadband Deployment Report, which shows rapid and significant progress in closing the digital divide. The Report shows that almost 83 percent of rural Americans are covered by at least 25/3 Mbps. This number has increased by 15 percentage points since 2016 and means the access gap between urban and rural Americans dropped to 16 percent during that time period. Fewer than 14.5 million Americans lacked access to 25/3 Mbps broadband service by the end of 2019. For the third consecutive year, the FCC has determined telecommunications deployment has met the statutory requirement for being constructed “in a reasonable and timely fashion.”
