Competition from 5G home broadband services lowered cable internet prices by as much as 17 percent in U.S. local markets between 2023 and 2025, according to a new study commissioned by CTIA, the wireless industry's main trade association. The figure gives a concrete number to a shift millions of American households have already felt at the monthly bill.

The study, released in Washington on Oct. 13, 2026, examined what happened to cable broadband pricing after 5G-based home internet services entered local markets across the United States. Its central finding: where fixed wireless access arrived as a genuine alternative, cable operators responded with lower prices rather than losing subscribers outright.

For an industry debate long dominated by anecdotes and promotional pricing claims, the 17 percent figure stands out. It converts a familiar consumer experience — carriers such as T-Mobile and Verizon marketing home internet alongside cable incumbents — into a measured market outcome over a two-year window.

What does the study actually measure?

The research tracks cable broadband prices in local U.S. markets from 2023 to 2025, the period in which 5G fixed wireless access scaled from a niche product to a mass-market offer. The up-to-17-percent decline represents the price effect attributable to 5G home broadband competition in the markets studied.

That framing matters. The study does not claim cable prices fell everywhere by that margin; it identifies the competitive effect where 5G-based service established itself as a real substitute. Readers should also weigh the sponsor: CTIA represents the wireless carriers whose product the study credits with disciplining cable pricing. Industry-funded economics is not wrong by definition, but the commercial interest is explicit.

Why the finding lands now

The timing gives the numbers political weight. U.S. policymakers and regulators have spent years pressing for more broadband competition, arguing that monopoly or duopoly local markets keep prices high. A quantified link between a new entrant technology and double-digit price declines is exactly the kind of evidence that shapes arguments over spectrum policy, merger review and subsidy design.

For cable operators, the study documents a margin pressure they have acknowledged in earnings calls for several quarters. Fixed wireless access has added millions of U.S. home internet subscribers, and cable's response — price cuts, bundled offers, faster tiers — is visible in the data the study captures.

The technology behind the shift is straightforward. 5G fixed wireless access delivers home broadband over the same mid-band spectrum networks carriers built for mobile service, skipping the cable or fiber line to the premises. Where that radio path is strong, it competes directly with wired plans.

What comes next

CTIA published the study as its member carriers push for more mid-band spectrum allocation, and the price data will likely anchor that lobbying: competition, the argument goes, depends on spectrum supply. Whether regulators accept the 17 percent figure as a benchmark for policy — or commission independent analysis — will play out in upcoming spectrum proceedings and broadband rulemaking.