Dr. George Ford’s evidence belies the claim of lagging broadband speeds in the U.S.
A constant refrain often heard in the broadband debate is that Internet speeds in the United States are generally far slower than for most other advanced countries. To test that argument, last February the Phoenix Center released a paper entitled Comparative Analysis of Fixed Broadband Speeds in Cities Across the World in which their Chief Economist Dr. George S. Ford compared fixed broadband speeds across thousands of U.S. and foreign cities.
Dr. Ford’s analysis revealed that average download speeds for fixed broadband are typically faster in the United States and often materially so, and U.S. upload speeds are comparable to other nations.
In a new analysis released Tuesday, entitled A Comparative Analysis of Mobile Wireless Broadband Speeds in Cities Across the World, Dr. Ford turns his attention to how the U.S. fares for mobile wireless broadband speeds.
Building on his prior research, Dr. Ford compares mobile wireless broadband speeds in U.S. cities to speeds in cities in other, higher-income nations. The data include mobile wireless broadband speeds for 4,480 cities across the globe (910 in the U.S.) from 98 nations.
Across multiple comparisons, Dr. Ford finds that the U.S. has equal or higher mobile wireless broadband download speeds—nearly twice the speed—than do other comparator countries.
Of the 98 countries in the sample, average speeds in the United States are in the top 15% of all countries’ average download speeds. As with fixed broadband speeds, U.S. mobile wireless networks offer high-quality data services.
“Once again, I find that across many cities located in nearly one hundred nations, U.S. broadband speeds are found to be well above average,” says Dr. Ford. “The evidence continues to belie the claim of lagging broadband speeds in the United States.”
