MANILA, Philippines – The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday, January 29, updated its broadband benchmark speeds to “keep pace with today’s advanced, high-quality voice, data, graphics, and video offerings.”

It more than quadrupled the download speed required for a connection to be termed as broadband.

FCC commissioners voted 3-2 in favor of adjusting the definition for the broadband threshold.

Service providers will now need to offer speeds of 25 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 3 Mbps upload to apply broadband as a label. Previously, broadband labels were given to services with 4Mbps download and 1Mbps upload speeds.

Engadget noted the average home broadband connection has a download speed of around 11Mbps.

With this new benchmark, the FCC added that 55 million Americans, or 17% of the population, now lack access to advanced broadband. More than half of all rural Americans also lack access to 25Mbps/3Mbps service.

While this doesn’t technically force US service providers to immediately change or upgrade their services, CNBC said the FCC could use the updated rules to better choose how it grants subsidies to Internet service providers working to better expand broadband in the country. – Rappler.com