Internet News 29 June 2025 - 17 July 2025

The BEAD program provides $42.45 billion in federal broadband funding administered by the NTIA to states to extend high-speed internet, with a 2025 policy shift to technology-neutral approaches that allow satellite solutions. The Affordable Connectivity Program provides a $30 per month subsidy and had about 18 million enrolled by 2023, with renewal funding uncertain in 2024–2025. As of May 2025, 95% of locations have 100/20 Mbps service available, leaving roughly 5% unserved. Fiber-to-the-home infrastructure was available in about 43–46% of U.S. areas in 2025, contributing to a national median download speed of about 242 Mbps by early 2024 (6th-fastest in

As of 2023, Grenada’s internet penetration was about 77–80% of a ~125,000 population, roughly 98,000 online. Mobile subscriptions exceed Grenada’s population at about 107%, reflecting widespread multiple-SIM usage. The market is a duopoly dominated by Flow and Digicel, with Flow accounting for roughly 82% of internet subscriptions/traffic and Digicel about 17%. Digicel launched 4G LTE in Grenada in late 2018 on 700 MHz, with Flow following later to upgrade mobile data; as of 2025, no 5G service is live. Fiber-to-the-Home is being rolled out by Flow and Digicel, with Digicel offering up to 1 Gbps Home Fiber and Flow anticipating

As of early 2024, about 8.74 million people in Switzerland were internet users, roughly 99% of the population. More than 96% of people aged 15–88 use the internet, and 51% of those aged 75+ report online daily. By the end of 2022, fixed broadband subscriptions reached 48.2 per 100 inhabitants, the highest rate in the OECD. The fixed broadband market is led by Swisscom with around 48% share in Q4 2022, followed by Sunrise about 28%, Salt around 4%, and Quickline plus regional networks about 13%. Fiber deployment covers about 46% of Swiss homes by 2023, with Swisscom targeting 57%

In early 2024, 92.1% of Israelis—about 8.51 million people—were online, according to DataReportal. Israel has about 10.40 million mobile subscriptions, yielding 112.5% mobile penetration due to multi-SIM usage. Roughly 92.9% of Israelis live in urban areas, with 7.1% rural. Median speeds are high: fixed broadband 167.4 Mbps and mobile 40.2 Mbps (early 2024), and Speedtest ranked Israel around 16th worldwide for fixed broadband with a median of 226.6 Mbps in January 2025. Fiber deployment reached about 45% of homes by early 2024, up from about 35% in 2023, with Bezeq and Partner (Unlimited FTTH) as the main fiber players. HOT

As of December 2023, ZICTA reported about 12.6 million internet subscriptions, representing 64.1% penetration. DataReportal’s Digital 2024 estimate puts Zambia at 6.51 million internet users, about 31.2% of the population, due to multiple SIM ownership inflating subscription counts. Over 99% of internet users rely on mobile broadband, while roughly 99,000 fixed-line subscriptions existed nationwide in 2023. Median download speeds were about 15 Mbps on mobile and 8.7 Mbps on fixed broadband in early 2023; by February 2024 mobile speeds rose to ~19.6 Mbps and fixed to ~21.3 Mbps, with uploads ~7.6 Mbps mobile and 5.3 Mbps fixed. MTN launched Zambia’s

As of January 2024, about 75.8% of Suriname’s population were online, roughly 474,000 people, with about 24% remaining offline. In August 2024, the Deep Blue One subsea fiber optic system, operated by Digicel’s submarine fiber subsidiary, went live in Paramaribo, delivering 25 Tbps over a 2,250 km route linking French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, and Trinidad & Tobago. Telesur began fiber rollout in Paramaribo in 2013 and completed a National Broadband Project by 2019, with residential fiber plans offering 50/50, 100/100, and 200/200 Mbps at SRD 1,472, SRD 2,061, and SRD 2,805 per month respectively. There is a sharp urban–rural divide:

Kuwait had approximately 4.29 million internet users, about 99% of the population, as of early 2024 per DataReportal. The country had around 7.89 million cellular mobile connections in 2024, equating to 182% of the population due to multiple SIM usage. Zain Kuwait launched 5G in 2019, becoming the first to roll out 5G among the three major operators, with 5G coverage reaching about 97% of the population by 2020. In July 2024, the Ministry of Communications announced the shutdown of copper services in several districts of Kuwait City and suburbs, encouraging customers to switch to fiber via ONTs. By 2022,

As of early 2024, Turkmenistan had about 2.59 million internet users, roughly 39.5% of the population—the lowest penetration in Central Asia. Turkmenistan’s telecom market is a state monopoly led by Turkmentelecom (Turkmen Telecom), with TM CELL/Altyn Asyr as the sole mobile operator after MTS exited in 2017–2018. There were about 4.34 million mobile subscriptions in early 2024, representing 66% of the population, with 3G introduced in 2010 and 4G LTE in 2013. In 2023 the government set a minimum broadband speed of 1 Mbps and a top tier of 6 Mbps, though real-world speeds are often far lower. The median