South Dakota
46
FCC data as of 2025-12-31
Total broadband serviceable units: 498,516
Satellite is doing 3.7% of the work here
The headline says 100.0% served, but only 96.3% has ground infrastructure at the benchmark. That gap is about 18,515 broadband serviceable units whose only reported option at 100/20 is satellite.
- Satellite reaches almost everywhere, so a headline that includes it approaches 100% nearly everywhere and stops distinguishing places.
- Availability is not capacity. Satellite constellations share bandwidth across all subscribers in a cell, so advertised speed is not a guarantee the whole reported population could be served at once.
- Latency, weather sensitivity, data policies, and equipment cost differ materially from wired service, and none of them appear in this dataset.
- Funding and policy programmes frequently treat satellite-only locations as unserved for their own purposes. Check the programme's own definition rather than this headline.
Who can get what
Shares of all broadband serviceable units in the total partition, residential class.
Headline versus ground truth
| Lens | Share | Units |
|---|---|---|
| Any technology, including satellite | 100.0% | 498,516 |
| Ground infrastructure only | 96.3% | 480,001 |
| Satellite is the only option at the benchmark | 3.7% | 18,515 |
Coverage by speed tier
| Tier | Share | Estimated units |
|---|---|---|
| 0.2/0.2 Mbps | 100.0% | 498,516 |
| 10/1 Mbps | 100.0% | 498,516 |
| 25/3 Mbps | 100.0% | 498,516 |
| 100/20 Mbps | 100.0% | 498,516 |
| 250/25 Mbps | 100.0% | 498,516 |
| 1000/100 Mbps | 76.6% | 381,886 |
Tiers are cumulative: a unit counted at a higher tier is also counted at every lower tier, so these rows must not be summed.
Fiber and upload capability
The published summary reports six fixed download/upload pairs and no symmetric tier above 0.2/0.2 Mbps, so symmetric service cannot be measured from it directly. Upload capability is shown through the highest tier, which requires 100 Mbps upstream, and fiber is reported separately because it is the technology that typically delivers matched speeds. A symmetric share is derivable from the FCC location-level availability files, which carry each location's advertised upload speed, but that product is roughly 973 million rows per vintage and is not ingested here.
Every technology
How this compares
Ranked 9 of 15 within Nation US on any terrestrial coverage at the benchmark.
Ranking deliberately uses ground infrastructure rather than the headline. Satellite reaches nearly everywhere, so ranking on it puts most areas at 100% and separates nothing.
Reporting providers (63)
| Provider | Holding company | Residential coverage |
|---|---|---|
| EchoStar Corporation | EchoStar Corporation | 100.0% |
| Space Exploration Technologies Corp. | Space Exploration Technologies Corp. | 100.0% |
| Viasat, Inc. | Viasat, Inc. | 100.0% |
| Midcontinent Communications | Midcontinent Communications | 61.0% |
| T-Mobile USA, Inc. | T-Mobile USA, Inc. | 51.9% |
| Lumen Technologies, Inc. | Lumen Technologies, Inc. | 47.0% |
| Verizon Communications Inc. | Verizon Communications Inc. | 41.4% |
| Clarity Telecom, LLC | Clarity Telecom, LLC | 34.5% |
| AT&T Inc. | AT&T Inc. | 34.3% |
| BHT Investment Holdings LLC | BHT Investment Holdings LLC | 17.7% |
| Golden West Telecommunications Cooperative, Inc. | Golden West Telecommunications Cooperative, Inc. | 10.9% |
| LTD Broadband LLC | LTD Broadband LLC | 6.2% |
| James Valley Cooperative Telephone Company | James Valley Cooperative Telephone Company | 4.9% |
| Interstate Telecommunications Cooperative, Inc. | Interstate Telecommunications Cooperative, Inc. | 4.9% |
| Venture Communications Cooperative, Inc. | Venture Communications Cooperative, Inc. | 4.3% |
| Alliance Communications Cooperative, Inc. | Alliance Communications Cooperative, Inc. | 3.9% |
| Mediacom Communications Corp. | Mediacom Communications Corp. | 3.7% |
| JAB Wireless, Inc. | JAB Wireless, Inc. | 3.7% |
| Valley Telecommunications Cooperative Association, Inc. | Valley Telecommunications Cooperative Association, Inc. | 2.6% |
| City of Brookings Telephone Fund | City of Brookings Telephone Fund | 2.3% |
| Hanson Communications, Inc. | Hanson Communications, Inc. | 2.1% |
| Santel Communications Cooperative | Santel Communications Cooperative | 2.1% |
| ATV Holdings, LLC | ATV Holdings, LLC | 1.9% |
| Midstate Communications, Inc. (SD) | Midstate Communications, Inc. (SD) | 1.7% |
| Wavelength LLC | Wavelength LLC | 1.6% |
| B-Y Internet, LLC | B-Y Internet, LLC | 1.4% |
| AMG Technology Investment Group LLC | AMG Technology Investment Group LLC | 1.0% |
| Cable One, Inc. | Cable One, Inc. | 1.0% |
| Long Lines | Long Lines | 0.9% |
| West River Cooperative Telephone Company | West River Cooperative Telephone Company | 0.8% |
| Roberts County Telephone Cooperative Association | Roberts County Telephone Cooperative Association | 0.7% |
| Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Telephone Authority | Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Telephone Authority | 0.7% |
| TrioTel Communications, Inc. | TrioTel Communications, Inc. | 0.7% |
| West River Telecommunications Cooperative | West River Telecommunications Cooperative | 0.7% |
| Standing Rock Sioux Tribe | Standing Rock Sioux Tribe | 0.6% |
| Interlakes Wireless LLC | Interlakes Wireless LLC | 0.5% |
| Hawkeye Topco Holdings LLC | Hawkeye Topco Holdings LLC | 0.4% |
| Beresford Municipal Telephone Company | Beresford Municipal Telephone Company | 0.3% |
| Kennebec Telephone Company, Inc. | Kennebec Telephone Company, Inc. | 0.2% |
| Consolidated Telcom | Consolidated Telcom | 0.1% |
| NE Colorado Cellular, Inc. | NE Colorado Cellular, Inc. | 0.1% |
| Great Plains Communications, Inc. | Great Plains Communications, Inc. | 0.1% |
| Mutual Telephone Company (IA) | Mutual Telephone Company (IA) | 0.1% |
| Park Region Mutual Telephone Company | Park Region Mutual Telephone Company | 0.1% |
| City of Faith Municipal Telephone Company | City of Faith Municipal Telephone Company | 0.04% |
| Dickey Rural Telephone Cooperative | Dickey Rural Telephone Cooperative | 0.04% |
| Range Telephone Cooperative, Inc. | Range Telephone Cooperative, Inc. | 0.04% |
| Aureon Network Services Inc. | Aureon Network Services Inc. | 0.01% |
| Farmers Mutual Telephone Company (MN) | Farmers Mutual Telephone Company (MN) | 0.01% |
| Hartington Telecommunications Co., Inc. | Hartington Telecommunications Co., Inc. | 0.01% |