How Does the Cost of Internet Bandwidth Affect Mining Decentralization?

The cost and availability of high-speed internet bandwidth affect mining decentralization by favoring large, centralized mining farms. To remain competitive, miners need to quickly receive new block templates and broadcast their solved blocks to minimize "stale" rates.

Large, well-connected data centers in regions with cheap bandwidth have a competitive edge, which can lead to a centralization of mining power away from smaller, remote operations.