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  "description": "Consumers would pay $5.6 billion more annually without bulk arrangements, a new study finds.\n",
  "path": "/study-bulk-broadband-cuts-gigabit-prices-in-half/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-21T19:27:58.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
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  "textContent": "WASHINGTON, May 21, 2026 – Residents in bulk broadband arrangements pay 50 percent less for gigabit internet service, according to a new study filed Thursday at the Federal Communications Commission.\n\nBulk arrangements are contracts between internet providers and multi-dwelling units, including apartments, condominiums, and homeowners associations to deliver service to all residents collectively, rather than through individual retail plans. Roughly 9.9 million U.S. households, about 7 percent of all housing, currently live under such arrangements.\n\nThe study, conducted by telecommunications consulting firm Cartesian for the Bulk Broadband Alliance, drew on pricing data from more than 1,000 active bulk contracts and found that bulk-served buildings averaged 5.7 competing facilities-based wireline providers, compared with 2.2 in retail-served units.\n\nBulk internet-only gigabit plans were 54 percent cheaper than comparable promotional retail offerings, while bundled internet-and-video packages were 62 percent cheaper, according to **Theresa Myers** , a principal at Cartesian who presented the findings during a press briefing Thursday.\n\nThe Bulk Broadband Alliance submitted the study to the FCC as part of the agency's 2026 Communications Marketplace Report proceeding. Alliance members are urging the commission to formally recognize bulk arrangements as pro-competitive and pro-consumer in its upcoming report.\n\nAt the briefing, **Kevin Donnelly** , executive director and chief advocacy officer of the Real Estate Technology & Transformation Center, argued that bulk arrangements increase both affordability and competition by allowing housing providers to negotiate contracts on behalf of residents.\n\n“At its core, bulk broadband is about scale, investment, and competition,” Donnelly said. Housing communities aggregate demand, conduct competitive bidding processes, negotiate lower prices and support infrastructure investments that individual consumers could not secure on their own.\n\nMyers said providers are often willing to extend service into apartment complexes because bulk contracts guarantee building-wide customer penetration and long-term revenue commitments. “When you have bulk, you almost double the amount of competition that would be willing to bid for a deal inside of a building,” she said.\n\nThe study also argues that bulk arrangements help reduce barriers to broadband adoption among lower-income households, students and seniors. Myers said the model eliminates installation fees, early termination fees and some credit-check requirements while providing predictable monthly costs. Governments and nonprofit organizations have increasingly used bulk arrangements to deliver internet service in affordable housing developments, she said.\n\n**Brian Hurley** , senior vice president of legal and regulatory affairs at ACA Connects, said the study provides empirical support for FCC findings across reviews in 2010, 2017, and 2025.\n\n“The commission found that bulk billing arrangements on balance benefit consumers by promoting reduced rates, operational efficiencies, deployment,” Hurley said.\n\nHurley noted that former FCC Chairwoman **Jessica Rosenworcel** circulated a proposal in 2024 that would have considered regulating bulk arrangements, but it never received a commission vote. Chairman **Brendan Carr** withdrew it upon taking office, stating the proposal could have raised internet prices for apartment residents by as much as 50 percent.\n\n“We're looking at this forthcoming marketplace report as an opportunity for the FCC to really solidify those findings,” Hurley said.\n\nDonnelly said the alliance also plans to use the study in discussions with lawmakers examining housing affordability, Universal Service Fund reform and potential changes to the Lifeline program.\n\n“We want to make sure that policymakers understand the truly positive benefits of bulk and related services,” Donnelly said.",
  "title": "Study: Bulk Broadband Cuts Gigabit Prices in Half",
  "updatedAt": "2026-05-22T21:47:04.343Z"
}