Senator Cantwell is wrong: internet costs are going down
By Nate Norris
During the December 14th Senate Commerce oversight hearing of the Federal Communications Commission, Ranking Member Maria Cantwell used her openings remarks to spread misinformation about the costs of media and telecommunications services.
Senator Cantwell’s remarks that basic cable and streaming costs have increased and that the FCC is reducing competition through consolidations are incorrect, and industry reports paint a distinctly different picture.
US Telecom’s 2025 broadband index found that the real prices for most popular broadband services dropped by 8.7 percent in 2025, and that the price of broadband had fallen by 43 percent since 2015.
Cantwell’s claims that reduced competition has driven up broadband and wireless prices are also incorrect, as the wireless trade association CTIA found that competition from 5G responsible for decreasing home broadband prices by 3.1 percent last year. CTIA reports found historic investments in wireless infrastructure led to higher demand and competition in the broadband market, with total investments reaching $219 billion since 2018.
The demand for data in America has grown exponentially, with 2024 seeing a 35 percent increase in traffic for a total of 130 trillion megabytes. This demand brings about competition and drives down prices.
Furthermore, basic cable packages now include not only more channels than existed in 2015, but also many bundle internet service and even deals on streaming services. Consumers are not paying double the price adjusted for inflation, and what increase they are paying is buying more services. Internet and wireless service, meanwhile, has gotten cheaper in the last ten years even without adjusting for inflation. Perhaps Senator Cantwell should focus on combatting inflation itself rather than beating up on industries whose prices are going down in spite of it.
There is plenty of work to be done at the Commerce Committee, from the unprecedented growth of AI to privacy. The costs of telecom services, however, is something that is improving without government intervention.