Op-Ed: Report shows light touch regulatory model has benefited U.S. over EU

This piece originally appeared in The Center Square on April 19, 2022.

A recent report shows that the United States leads the European Union (EU) in broadband deployment, adoption, and competition. This connectivity indicates that the more than $2 trillion spent by private providers is paying dividends in closing the digital divide.

The study, US vs EU Broadband Trends, released by US Telecom The Broadband Association, found that the U.S. leads the EU by 11 percentage points on deployment of speeds above 30 Megabits per second, and 25 percentage points above 100 Mbps. In adoption, the U.S. leads by 10 percentage points at the minimum broadband speed of 25 Mbps, and 21 points at speeds above 100 Mbps. In fact, the report found that most of U.S. households now enjoy internet subscriptions at speeds above that latter threshold.

While critics complain there isn’t enough competition in this country, the report found that Americans enjoy twice the facilities-based competition as their European counterparts. In rural areas, the U.S. leads the EU sevenfold.

While some rural residents have certainly been left behind, the report found that the gap isn’t as bad as many believe. In fact, 91 percent of rural residents in the U.S. can access broadband speeds, compared to 60 percent of rural EU residents. The study notes that the EU definition of rural is more generous, including more population-dense areas that allows costs to be spread across a much larger customer case. Taking this into account, the gap between the U.S. and EU widens even more.

The study helps debunk the claim that the more highly regulated broadband framework in the EU has resulted in a better internet experience there than in the U.S. Instead, it shows that the pro-investment regulatory model generally emphasized in the U.S. had yielded better outcomes and made this country much closer to closing the digital divide than Europe has.

During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-2020, heavy bandwidth users like Netflix and YouTube were asked to throttle their speeds in the EU when nearly everyone was stuck at home so that more essential websites and services would not be affected. Similar requests were not made in the U.S. because the networks were more robust.

“The times we live in today make clear the essential nature of broadband not only to everyone in our country but to people around the world,” said US Telecom President and CEO Jonathan Spalter. “This analysis illuminates the powerful, cause-and-effect relationship between sound, constructive public policy and transformative outcomes for consumers and the broader economy. It is our hope that the effectiveness of the U.S. regulatory model is a lesson for the world in spurring investment, advancing competition and accelerating broadband’s many benefits to people everywhere.”