Then & Now

By Brad

In 1996, the cable and telecommunications industry invested $5.7 billion in infrastructure; since then, they have invested more than $161.2 billion.

In 1999, there were just 105 different broadband providers across the United States; today, the FCC reports that there are nearly 1,400.

In 2000, there were approximately 7 million broadband lines; now there are more than 132 million.

In June 2000, 59 percent of U.S. zip codes had at least one high-speed Internet service provider available; today, broadband has been deployed to 100 percent of zip codes across the country and only 6 percent of U.S. homes don’t have access to any broadband services, according to the FCC.

According to the NTIA, 4.4 percent of U.S. households had adopted broadband Internet in August 2000; as of October 2009, this number had multiplied to 63.5 percent of U.S. households.

According to IIA Broadband Ambassador Bret Swanson, monthly Internet traffic was approximately 170 million gigabytes in 2004; as of October 2009, monthly traffic measured two billion gigabytes — a tenfold leap.

On July 30, 2008, the Internet Innovation Alliance was first out of the gate calling for a National Broadband Strategy; now, the Federal Communications Commission officially presents its National Broadband Plan to Congress.