Louisiana’s Internet
Market Overview

“The right of the people to preserve, foster, and promote their respective historic, linguistic, and cultural origins”.

This is a quote from the Louisiana constitution, and is the perfect definition of what is the state made of: multicultural heritages and history.

The state was built under French, Spanish, Haitian, Canadian, Caribbean, African and Vietnamese influences. Oh, and we can never forget, the Native Americans.

The state has more indigenous tribes than any other place in the South US. There are at least 18 different tribes in Louisiana.

Another important aspect of the state is its natural bioma. The region has coastal marshes and swamps, longleaf pine forests and savannas. Much of this beautiful singularity happens thanks to the Mississippi River waters.

For its unique cultural mix, it has special architecture, culinary and, of course, music. Some recognize Louisiana as the birthplace of jazz. Whether it really is or not is more important for researchers than for us. For us, it means that, beyond its natural beauties, the state has cities that bring pieces of American history to life and places that beat at the sound of the most different music styles.

But all of these historical facts do not mean that the state lives in the past. Indeed, the average download speed in it is 157 Mbps, not a bad figure, indeed faster than states like California, North Dakota and Ohio.

More than 56% of Louisianans have access to low priced internet (those plans that cost less than $ 60 per month), slightly more than the national average, of 51%.

On the other hand, only 41% of the state’s addresses have access to fiber connections. It means that almost 60% of them do not have access to the latest technology when it comes to the internet.

Fiber connections are faster and have more data capacity than cable connections and, even more, than DSL services. Generally speaking, in fiber, data is transmitted over glass made wires, at the speed of light (literally).

But since it is a new technology, it does not have been implemented in all the United States. In fact, in many places, it is still not available for the majority of addresses —so the 41% in Louisiana is not that bad indeed.

The state has received over $ 89 million in federal grants to expand its broadband infrastructure, since 2010. And over $ 6 million to collect data from its broadband conditions, in order to help internet access expansion programs.

To have a deeper look in Louisiana, let’s take a look at how the situation is in some of the most important cities in the state.

The state’s capital might not be the largest city in Louisiana, but when it comes to the internet, it tops many of the biggest cities in the United States.

Baton Rouge has an average download speed of almost 200 Mbps. It is better than four of the five largest cities in the US.

It tops Los Angeles (161 Mbps), Chicago (180 Mbps), Houston (186 Mbps) and Philadelphia (179 Mbps). It only falls behind the exceptional 545 Mbps average found in New York.

Which is not that good in Baton Rouge is Internet Services Providers (ISP) distribution. Almots 4% of its addresses (or around 13.000 people) only have access to one or none provider at their homes.

But on the other hand, 51% of people living in the city have access to fiber connections, which is a good figure considering that the technology is still being implemented in the United States.

Nevertheless, the state’s providers offer good starting plan prices for its customers.

The top ISP in Baton Rouge is AT&T, which not only has fiber, but a starting plan price of $ 35 per month.

COX’s prices start even lower, $ 30. But the provider, which is even more available than AT&T, does not offer fiber connections, only cable.

There are two other alternatives for fiber connections, Earthlink and Eatel. Both of them are not widely available and the first one's starting price is $ 50 while the second one costs at least $ 60 per month.

In some way, the Louisiana capital reflects just how multicultural the state is. In its history, it changed hands from one government to another seven times. In the colonial era, it was controlled by the French, then the British and then the Spanish. After, it became part of the short-life Republic of West Florida, then part of the United States, then became a Confederate state and, after the end of the Civil War (and as for today), got back in control of the United States once again.

In fact, its location by the coast of the Mississippi River was strategic during American history, which explains why it was a city desired by so many different governments.

The city is also home to many important movie companies, research industries and even the only historically black college system in the United States, the Southern University.

But it falls behind New Orleans in two main aspects: size and sports.

If Baton Rouge is the capital of the state of Louisiana today, New Orleans was the capital of French Louisiana in the 18 century —the city, actually, was founded by French.

The city took the headlines of all the United States in 2005, after it was severely affected by the Katrina Hurricane.

The Hurricane left behind more than 1.800 dead people, destroyed thousands of houses and flooded 80% of the city.

It was historical when, just four years after Katrina, the New Orleans Saints won their first ever Super Bowl in the NFL (National Football League).

The team was led by quarterback Drew Brees (who was named the MVP of the final, who defeated, first, the great Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings, to win its first ever conference title and reach the first NFL final in franchise history.

Reaching that game was already historical for that team. But in the Super Bowl XLIV, the Indianapolis Colts, led by the hall of fame Payton Manning, opened 10-0 in the score after 15 minutes.

But Brees, who had joined the team the year after Katrina (in 2006), was able to change the game and the New Orlean Saints won 37-17 at the end, to win the one and only Super Bowl for the city.

But why are we talking about football? Because as the New Orleans Saints have shown, the city has recovered very fast from the tragedy. Although there are concerns about gentrification and other problems in the process of redeveloping the city, as far as the internet is concerned, it has shown very good results.

The average download speed in New Orleans is 173 Mbps, a figure faster, for example, than at the second largest city in the United States, Los Angeles (161 Mbps) and even with the fifth, Philadelphia (179 Mbps).

The most impressive is the fiber coverage. The technology reaches 100% of the city. As it is a new technology, it is still being implemented all through the US, so in many many places, it is still rarely available.

Maybe because the city had to be reconstructed after the hurricane, fiber connections are so developed in New Orleans.

Fiber is much faster than cable connections because it transmits data through glass made wires, literally at the speed of light. It has also more data capacity and is able to provide similar download and upload speeds, something that no other type of connection can.

Also, it is the technology of the future, because it probably will be used in the 6th generation of the internet: the new type of internet that promises to bring alive smart cities and the metaverse (and for that, will need much more data, something that fiber supports).

New Orleans is the 6th most connected city in the state of Louisiana. 98% of its residents have access to at least two different Internet Service Providers (ISP).

The best alternative is AT&T, but it is not largely available as it is in other cities. COX comes as another good alternative, although it does not offer fiber connections.

The third and final alternative for fast internet is EarthLink, but is even less available than the first two —but it does offer fiber internet.