Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires the FCC to annually conduct an inquiry concerning the availability of advanced telecommunications to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion. On August 14, 2026 the FCC issued the 2026 Section 706 Report. Regarding this latest 706 Report (Report), the FCC issued a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) last year seeking input on specific questions and proposals as follows:
* The NOI proposed to focus on the availability of advanced services as measured by deployment by considering whether advanced capability “is being deployed” rather than on whether it has already been deployed.
* Should 100/20 Mbps service be retained as the benchmark for defining advanced telecommunications capability?
* The NOI proposed to abolish the long-term goal of 1Gbps/500Mbps previously established as no long-term goal is mentioned in Section 706.
* The NOI proposed to continue using the previously established goal of 1Gbps/500Mbps for school students and staff.
* The continued use of BDC data as the primary data source for analyzing fixed broadband availability was also proposed in the NOI.
In the 2026 Report the Commission concluded that the appropriate interpretation of the Section 706 statute regarding availability depends on whether broadband service “is being deployed” to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion. The Report finds that high-speed residential broadband service is now more ubiquitous than ever before. From June 2024 to June 2025, the number of Americans lacking access to 100/20 Mbps fixed terrestrial broadband service decreased by approximately 23% and 96.9% of Americans have access to fixed terrestrial broadband service at 100/20 Mbps. Over a two-year period, the percentage of Americans lacking access to 100/20 Mbps service decreased by over 44%. Further, with the inclusion of satellite as an alternative, 100/20 Mbps service is nearly universally available in rural areas.
The 100/20 Mbps service is maintained in the 2026 Report as the benchmark for defining advanced telecommunications service capability for fixed broadband. The Report references comments filed in the NOI purporting that 100/20 Mbps service meets the needs of U.S. consumers and with this level of service a U.S. household can engage in telework, telehealth, educational, social, and entertainment digital activities, as well as contact emergency services. In response to comments in the NOI suggesting increasing the benchmark, the Commission determined that it would be premature to raise the benchmark beyond the 100/20 Mbps benchmark currently used for the BEAD Program.
In the 2026 Report the Commission abolishes without replacement the previously established long-term of 1Gbps/500Mbps. In doing so, the Commission states that a long-term goal is not mentioned in Section 706 and maintaining a long-term goal could appear to violate its obligation to conduct its Section 706 analysis in a technologically neutral manner. Further, the Commission concluded that at present, it is impossible to predict long-term technological developments and the evolution of consumer preferences.
On assessment of deployment and availability of advanced telecommunications capability to secondary schools and classrooms, the 2026 Report adopts the Commission’s proposal in the NOI to continue using the previously adopted short-term benchmark of 1 Gbps per 1000 students. The Commission declined to adopt a long-term benchmark and concluded that doing so could skew the market by unnecessarily potentially picking winners and losers. Further, the Commission concluded that Section 706 does not require the establishment of a long-term benchmark.
The 2026 Report endorses the continued use of the Commission’s Broadband Data Collection (BDC) in the analysis of fixed broadband availability. The Report states that even as the Commission continually strives to improve the BDC, it is the most granular, detailed collection of broadband availability data that the FCC has available.
Finally, the 2026 Report concludes that advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion and that impressive strides have been made since the last Report. The Commission states that its work in closing the digital divide is not done indicating that roughly 10.5 million people still lack access to fixed terrestrial advanced telecommunications capability at speeds of 100/20 Mbps (if satellite service is not considered). While deployment continues to improve, there is still significant work to be done to encourage deployment in rural areas, where more than 9 million Americans lack access, and on Tribal lands where roughly 500,000 people still lack access.
