In its sixth annual Broadband Deployment Report, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has highlighted the less-than-satisfactory status of broadband Internet in the US, revealing on Tuesday that up to 24 million Americans lack broadband access. 

In the report, the FCC - which has already issued five such reports since 1999 – has finally acknowledged that “broadband is not being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.”

The Commission said that not only do 14-24 million US residents lack access high-speed Internet access, but the immediate chances of their accessibility of such a service are also quite bleak. Putting it differently, 14 million people lacking broadband access means that the numbers almost equal the combined 2005 population estimates of New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

According to the FCC, the results underscore the fact that there is a need to make certain reforms, like – the setting up of a Universal Service Fund; introducing innovative approaches to spectrum allocation; removing impediments in the way of infrastructure investment; and improved broadband data collection. 

Meanwhile, updating the standard broadband speed to 4 Mbits/second downstream and 1 Mbits/second upstream, the FCC said: “This is a minimum speed generally required for using today's video-rich broadband applications and services, while retaining sufficient capacity for basic web browsing and e-mail.”