Antitrust Radar
Median county two-anchor observed comparisonDec 2023 5,356 to Dec 2024 4,599, a decrease of -757. The vertical placement is normalized to this two-point comparison and is not a shared scale.PRIOR ANCHORLATEST ANCHOR

Canonical research dossier

Q08 / Broadband geographies / Geographic structure

Which areas and provider-share changes account for movement in the county median, and how wide is the distribution hidden by the median?

Median county / Residential fixed broadband County median
Dec 2023
5,356
prior anchor
Observed change
-757
1 year
Dec 2024
4,599
latest anchor
Current custody
1
source record
Observed comparisonExact values, periods, metric, unit, and universe stay attached.
Research questionThe monitor question is preserved verbatim as a bounded program of inquiry.
Evidence to collectDeclared requests are future work, not established evidence or findings.
Evidence standard

Published signal

The observation behind the question

December 2024 versus December 2023 in the same FCC geographic summary. The intervening June release remains visible in the broadband atlas and is not used as the annual comparison anchor.
Dec 20235,356prior
-757Decrease
Dec 20244,599latest
Observed signalMedian county moved from HHI 5,356 in Dec 2023 to 4,599 in Dec 2024 (-757 HHI points).

The December 2024 county median is lower than its December 2023 anchor. This geographic summary does not define a legal broadband market or identify why provider shares changed.

The FCC series reports HHI for residential fixed connections of at least 100 Mbps downstream and 20 Mbps upstream. The national value and medians across states, counties, and census tracts describe different geographic summaries; they are not interchangeable legal market definitions, and a median does not describe the full distribution within or across areas.

Declared empirical track

Geographic structure

Reconcile national and nested geographic concentration summaries with area-level distributions, provider or ownership paths, measurement boundaries, and local-market evidence.
Evidence base
9 FCC semiannual observations / Dec 2020-Dec 2024
Data status
verified
Confidence
high
Metric family
fixed-broadband-hhi

Evidence to collect

4 declared requests
  1. 01

    Area-level provider connection shares behind the national or median geographic HHI path.

  2. 02

    Full state, county, or tract HHI distributions so movement in the median is not mistaken for a uniform shift.

  3. 03

    Technology, speed-tier, entry, exit, acquisition, and subscriber-mix records for both annual anchors.

  4. 04

    Local product, geographic, pricing, quality, switching, and availability evidence before treating a reporting area as an antitrust market.

These requests define collection work. Their inclusion does not assert that the records exist, support a claim, or establish a cause.

Current source custody

Evidence already attached to the observed signal

Collection requests above remain separate from these published source records.
Federal Communications CommissionInternet Access Services: Status as of December 31 2024Source profile

The FCC series reports HHI for residential fixed connections of at least 100 Mbps downstream and 20 Mbps upstream. The national value and medians across states, counties, and census tracts describe different geographic summaries; they are not interchangeable legal market definitions, and a median does not describe the full distribution within or across areas.

Research handoffs

Keep the question connected to its evidence system

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