DiNapoli: At least 25% of NYC residents lack broadband access, rate is higher in some Brooklyn neighborhoods

December 12, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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CITYWIDE — A QUARTER OF NEW YORK CITY RESIDENTS LACK BROADBAND ACCESS, a new report from State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli has found. The report, which examined issues related to broadband availability, access and affordability across New York City’s neighborhoods found that despite high availability, one in four households had no cable, fiberoptic (FTTP) or digital subscriber line (DSL) internet subscription as of 2023 with Brooklyn having the second highest share (after the Bronx) of households without broadband internet (27.3%). The disparities in fixed broadband internet access are more pronounced at the neighborhood level. According to the report, three of Brooklyn’s 18 neighborhoods (including Coney Island/Brighton Beach and Ocean Hill/Brownsville) had more than one-third of households without fixed broadband access, with three southern Brooklyn neighborhoods seeing more than a third households lacking access. [Editor’s Note: However, here the report probably meant Brooklyn’s 18 Community Board Districts, many of which encompass multiple neighborhoods.] Moreover, Brooklyn and the Bronx faced the highest average price for monthly broadband service among the five boroughs as of 2024.

The report also mentioned that “funding [from Congress] for some subsidy programs, such as the federal Affordable Connectivity Program was not renewed,” leading the Federal Communications Commission to end the ACP effective June 2024.

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