• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, January 8, 2016

Ten percent of the U.S. population is still unable to connect to the Internet at speeds of at least 25 Mbps -- the Federal Communications Commission's current definition of broadband. In rural areas, 39% of the population lacks access to connections of at least 25 Mbps.

Those figures, released by the FCC this week in a fact sheet, will be included in Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposed annual broadband progress report. That report concludes that broadband still is not being deployed "in a reasonable and timely fashion." The FCC is expected to release the entire report later this month.

Advocacy group Public Knowledge suggested on Friday that the FCC's findings could pave the way for new policies aimed at promoting broadband.

"The report looked at hard evidence, and declines to ‘rubber stamp’ carriers’ claims of accessibility. This finding, and the data gathered for it, will allow policymakers to take an honest look at the broadband landscape and what needs to be done to ensure that all Americans have access to the quality broadband we need to ensure our digital future," staff attorney Meredith Rose said in a statement.

Despite the overall conclusion, the FCC says that broadband deployment is improving. In 2012, one in five people in the U.S. lacked access to broadband at speeds of at least 25 Mbps, while 55% of people living in rural areas lacked access to broadband at that speed.

Also, the FCC said last month that cable companies' most popular service tiers now offer speeds ranging from 50 and 105 Mbps. Three years ago, the most popular packages offered service ranging from 12 to 30 Mbps.

The industry group USTelecom drew on those more positive findings to criticize the FCC's upcoming report. "With more than $75 billion a year being invested by broadband providers, network capacity burgeoning, and speeds increasing exponentially -- as the commission's latest fact-based broadband measurement report shows -- no one actually believes that deployment in the United States is unreasonable," association president Walter McCormick said in a statement.

He added that the FCC's review process "has become a cynical exercise, one that eschews dispassionate analysis, and is patently intended to reach a predetermined conclusion that will justify a continuing expansion of the agency’s own regulatory reach.”