FCC rules that rural broadband be as fast as urban broadband

Good news, hayseeds: the FCC has ruled that rural broadband should be held to the same standard as that of connections in built-up cities and towns. The stateside regulator has issued a new order, which states that in the US countryside, providers must maintain at least a 10Mbit/s downlink speed for subscribers if they want to call it “broadband”. The ruling will apply to ISPs that receive taxpayer dollars through the FCC’s Connect America Fund.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has decided that Internet providers that use government subsidies to build rural broadband networks must offer speeds of at least 10Mbps download and 1Mbps upload. “The FCC will now require companies receiving Connect America funding for fixed broadband to serve consumers with speeds of at least 10 Mbps for downloads and 1 Mbps for uploads,” writes the FCC. “That is an increase reflecting marketplace and technological changes that have occurred since the FCC set its previous requirement of 4 Mbps/1 Mbps speeds in 2011.” The action laid out by the FCC will only affect broadband networks funded by the Connect America Fund. Despite the ruling, the FCC’s original definition of broadband still remains 4Mbps download and 1Mbps upload. In the past, AT&T and Verizon have both pleaded with the FCC to keep the definition of ‘broadband’ locked at the 4:1 threshold.