A new survey by the New America Foundation has revealed that of the countries surveyed, the US has the highest prices for broadband internet by a very wide margin.
Global leaders in internet usage and penetration such as South Korea, Japan and the United Kingdom were amongst the countries surveyed alongside the US; broadband in America was found to be twice as expensive as in the UK, and almost five times as expensive as in South Korea. Hundreds of available broadband bundles were surveyed from locations around the world, and the discrepancy between US prices and foreign market prices was incredible.
These results mirror findings released earlier this year by the OECD, when America ranked 30th out of 33 countries in terms of high speed broadband prices. For broadband internet speeds of over 45 Mbps, the average recorded price in the US was $90 a month, but bundled with phone and TV, these connections reached prices as high as $200 per month.
It is believed that many of the problems surrounding broadband prices are due to the deregulation of high-speed internet by the American government over a decade ago. In the time since this broadband deregulation occurred, internet service providers have consolidated and monopolized local markets, leaving connection speeds to catch up slowly whilst prices rose.
