Voluntary Agreements Deliver Strong Energy-Efficiency Results, Mark First Year of Fixed Wireless Participation

Washington, D.C. - New independent audit reports released today document the continued success of two award-winning communications-industry voluntary agreements that improve the energy efficiency of video set-top boxes and home internet equipment used in more than 100 million American households. The reports, prepared by independent administrator Evergreen Economics, show that in 2025 all signatories met their efficiency commitments, with 100% of new set-top boxes and 99.4% of new small network equipment (SNE) meeting the programs' energy efficiency targets.

This year's reports also mark a significant expansion of the SNE Voluntary Agreement: for the first time, the agreement's scope includes the fixed wireless access (FWA) market, and the program has been joined by its newest service provider signatory, T-Mobile.

Set-Top Boxes

The report on the Set-Top Box Voluntary Agreement, now in its thirteenth year, shows that national set-top box energy consumption has declined by approximately 79% since the program began, falling from 32 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2012 to 6.8 TWh in 2025. As a result, consumers spent an estimated $4.36 billion less on their utility bills in 2025 alone, and there were 16.9 million fewer metric tons of CO2 emissions from power plants than would have occurred had set-top box power levels and volumes remained unchanged from 2012.

The report finds that 100% of signatories' new set-top box purchases met the Voluntary Agreement's applicable energy efficiency levels in 2025, and third-party verification testing confirmed that every model tested performed at or below its reported energy use. Participants in the set-top box program include major pay-TV providers (Charter, Comcast, Cox, DIRECTV, DISH, Frontier, Optimum, and Verizon), manufacturers (Sagemcom and Vantiva), energy-efficiency advocate the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), and supporting organizations Consumer Technology Association (CTA), NCTA, and CableLabs. The parties have unanimously extended the Voluntary Agreement three times, most recently through 2028.

Home Internet Devices

The Small Network Equipment Voluntary Agreement (SNE)- covering broadband modems, routers, and Wi-Fi extenders - expanded in 2025 to include fixed wireless access technology for the first time and welcomed T-Mobile. With this expansion, the SNE Voluntary Agreement covered approximately 102.8 million residential U.S. Internet subscriptions at the end of 2025, nearly a 13% increase from the prior year and representing approximately 88% of the fixed residential internet access market.

The eleventh annual SNE Voluntary Agreement report finds that 99.4% of new SNE purchased or sold by signatories in 2025 met the agreement's energy efficiency levels, with every reporting signatory individually meeting its 90% commitment. Since reporting began in 2015, the weighted average Ready State power of new SNE relative to broadband speed delivered has decreased by 91%, even as devices have been called on to support faster speeds and much stronger Wi-Fi coverage - demonstrating that signatories are delivering these services more efficiently and meeting the core objectives of the Voluntary Agreement.

Participants in the SNE program include leading internet service providers (AT&T, Charter, Comcast, Cox, Frontier, Optimum, T-Mobile, and Verizon), manufacturers of SNE sold in the United States (ASUS, eero, Google, Linksys, Netgear, Plume, TP-Link, and Vantiva), and supporting organizations CTA, NCTA, and CableLabs. Pacific Gas & Electric serves as the program's energy efficiency advocate. As with the set-top box program, the SNE Voluntary Agreement has been extended through 2028, and the parties have adopted a more rigorous Tier 4 schedule of efficiency allowances that went into effect for devices purchased and sold beginning in 2026.

Both voluntary agreements include measures to assure transparency and independent verification of their results, including third-party lab testing and annual audits of signatories' procurement and sales data.

Learn more about the voluntary agreement and the industry's energy efficiency efforts at energy-efficiency.us.