The Federal Communications Commission changed the definition of broadband Internet, increasing the service's required download speed from the current 4 Mbps to 25 Mbps.
Back in 2010, the FCC established the definition of broadband as an Internet service with a download speed of at least 4 Mbps and an upload speed of at least 1 Mbps.
The commission has now re-defined broadband, stating that the benchmark that the FCC established five years ago is now outdated for the evaluation on whether sufficient broadband technology is being delivered to consumers in the United States.
The download speed of 25 Mbps, along with an upload speed of 3 Mbps, is the new benchmark for broadband Internet speeds. With this new benchmark, broadband Internet providers will be forced to upgrade their slower services to comply with the requirements of the FCC.
The new definition by the FCC comes as the commission released its 2015 Broadband Progress Report, an annual report that assesses the broadband market of the United States.
The report reveals that 55 million Americans, which is equivalent to 17 percent of the United States population, are not able to access advanced broadband services. The figure, FCC notes, is an improvement from last year by 3 percent.
The report also revealed that around 53 percent of Americans living in rural areas, about 22 million people, lack access to services with the new broadband speed definition, compared to 8 percent of Americans living in urban areas. In addition, 20 percent of those living in rural areas do not have access even to the old definition of broadband.
The FCC concluded their report by stating that, while there has been progress in the deployment of advanced broadband services, the developments are not happening fast enough and wide enough.
The National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA), representing the leading broadband providers in the country, expressed concerns over the required 25 Mbps speed for broadband.
"We are troubled that the Commission majority has arbitrarily chosen a definition of broadband...that ignores how millions of consumers currently access the Internet," said the NCTA.
According to the group, the new standard for broadband Internet "dramatically exaggerate the amount of bandwidth needed by the typical broadband user."
However, Consumer group Public Knowledge said that the new definition is "long overdue."
In terms of broadband speed, the United States currently ranks 14th among all the nations in the world, according to data from Akamai Technologies, with an average speed of 11.4 Mbps.
South Korea is the leading nation with an average broadband speed of 24.6 Mbps, followed by Hong Kong, Switzerland, Japan and the Netherlands.
