Technical Notes
General
The information presented in this report is based on data from FCC Form 477. Through FCC
Form 477, facilities-based broadband providers submit information to the FCC about where they
offer and have subscribers to Internet access services over 200 kilobits per second (kbps) in at
least one direction. In June 2013, the Commission adopted several changes to FCC Form 477.
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Detailed information about those changes and about the FCC Form 477 reporting requirements
in general is available at www.fcc.gov/form477.
In March 2020, Congress passed the Broadband Data Act which required the Commission to
collect broadband availability data at a more granular level than what was historically reported
through FCC Form 477.
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As a result, starting in June 2022, broadband availability data have
been collected through the Broadband Data Collection (BDC) while subscription data continues
to be reported through FCC Form 477. To ensure consistency across the two data collections,
several minor changes were made to the FCC Form 477 reporting requirements beginning with
filings as of June 30, 2022. Complete reporting requirements for both, the BDC and FCC Form
477, can be found here: www.fcc.gov/BroadbandData/filers. The inaugural BDC filing window
for data as of June 30, 2022 was closed on September 1, 2022. Subscription data collected as
part of the BDC will be incorporated into this report beginning with the June 30, 2022 edition.
FCC Form 477 collects information about Internet access connections in service to end-user
locations that are advertised to deliver information to and/or from the end user – that is, in at
least one direction – at transfer rates (speeds) above 200 kilobits per second (kbps). Information
is collected about the number of connections by the advertised speeds associated with each
product subscribed to in the relevant geographic area, census tracts for fixed and states for
mobile. Fixed providers report connections by the maximum advertised upload and download
speeds, while mobile providers report connections by minimum advertised upload and download
speeds. Fixed connections are further categorized by the technology employed by the part of the
connection that terminates at the end-user location. Wherever a number of providers is cited in
this report, multiple FCC Form 477 filers within a holding company structure count as one
provider.
“End users” are residential, business, institutional, or government entities who use services for
their own purposes and who do not resell such services to other entities. Facilities-based
providers report information about connections they provide directly to their own end-user
customers and also connections that they provide to Internet Service Providers for resale to end
users. For FCC Form 477 purposes, the facilities-based provider of a connection is the entity
that owns the portion of the physical facility that terminates at the end-user location, obtains an
unbundled network element (UNE), special access line, or other leased facility that terminates at
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Modernizing the FCC Form 477 Data Program, WC Docket No. 11-10, Report and Order, 28 FCC Rcd 9887
(2013). See also High-Speed Services for Internet Access: Status as of December 31, 2014 (March 2016) at 1-2,
available at https://www.fcc.gov/reports-research/reports/internet-access-services-reports/internet-access-services-
reports.
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Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act, Pub. L. No. 116-130, 134 Stat. 228 (2020)
(codified at 47 U.S.C. §§ 641-646) (Broadband DATA Act or Act).
U.S. Federal Communications Commission
Internet Access Services: Status as of December 31, 2021