Starlink · FCC · Joe Biden · Republicans · Ars Technica
He proposed abolishing it last year, and the change was finalized on August 14 in the FCC’s latest broadband deployment
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“As part of Ars Technica’s return to following the plain language of Section 706, Ars Technica adopt Ars Technica’s proposal from the Notice [of Inquiry] to abolish without replacement the long-term goal of 1,000/500 Mbps established in the 2024 Report,” the order said.
Key facts
- The FCC said that as of mid-2025, “approximately 94 percent of Americans had access to fixed wireline service at our speed benchmark of 100/20 Mbps,” and that the percentage was 97 percent
- In addition to the 5.7 percent of US households without any 100/20 Mbps providers, 40.6 percent of households had one wired broadband provider offering those speeds
- As part of their return to following the plain language of Section 706, they adopt their proposal from the Notice [of Inquiry] to abolish without replacement the long-term goal of 1,000/500 Mbps
- Today’s Section 706 Report shows that President Trump’s policies and the Commission’s Build America agenda are delivering real results for the American people,” Carr said
Summary
The Federal Communications Commission last week eliminated the gigabit speed goal established during the Biden administration and declared that current levels of broadband deployment in the US are acceptable. In 2024, the FCC raised its broadband benchmark to 100Mbps downstream and 20Mbps upstream, setting the new standard by which to judge whether deployment is reasonable and timely. Republican Brendan Carr, who is now the FCC chairman, never liked that long-term goal. The FCC said that comments submitted by cable industry group NCTA and wireless industry group CTIA “support our reasoning for abolishing the long-term goal.”