Many more Americans are online today than in 2017. The greatest growth in broadband adoption has come in the places where the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) had the largest impact: in rural areas and among low-income households. But, overall, growth in adoption of digital subscription plans has slowed. These developments have unfolded as overall broadband adoption growth rates have stalled in the past several years, particularly for home wireline broadband. These trends suggest that the United States may be approaching an income-constrained saturation point in the adoption of digital tools, by which upper-income households enjoy digital abundance (i.e., subscriptions to both wireline and wireless data plans). Lower-income households, though they generally have one or the other access path available at home, are far less likely to have both tools at hand. This may explain why wireline broadband adoption in the United States may have hit a plateau, as many lower-income households cannot afford both access subscriptions.

Policymakers and other stakeholders should take away three other points:

  1. Non-deployment issues loom large in rural broadband adoption. Sizable rural broadband gaps across all income categories show how network availability gaps depress rural adoption. But low-income rural residents are far less likely to subscribe to broadband than upper-income rural households. Addressing non-deployment considerations, such as service affordability and the availability of digital skills training, needs to be part of any solution for rural broadband adoption.
  2. Older adults are a promising source of future growth. More than one in five adults in the United States are over the age of 65. That age group—and, especially, the 75-and-older subgroup—has experienced strong growth in home wireline adoption in recent years, as well as large increases in subscriptions to wireless data plans. Maintaining these patterns will require not just addressing affordability but also ensuring that this population has access to digital skills training programs and community “help desks” for troubleshooting online challenges.
  3. The ACP’s fingerprints are evident in recent broadband trends. This report’s analysis of ACS data shows positive changes in broadband adoption in the same places and economic groups in which recent Benton Institute research found the largest impact, namely in rural areas and among low-income households.

 

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