Tag Archives: Affordable Connectivity Program

Can affordable internet increase employment opportunities for low-income workers?

Posted on by
Reply

I can only access the abstract for this report – but sometimes the abstract can get you the info you need. (Not that I wouldn’t like to read the full article.) The research article (Can affordable internet increase employment opportunities for low-income workers? Evidence from the Affordable Connectivity Program) looks at the impact of the ACP…

This study investigates the labor market impacts of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), the largest U.S. initiative to date aimed at reducing income-based disparities in Internet access. We assess ACP’s effects on labor force participation and employment and test the hypothesis that a key impact mechanism is the expansion of remote work opportunities for program recipients. Using large-scale national datasets, we also explore heterogeneity in program effects by gender, occupation, and connection type (fixed vs. mobile).

They found that…

The results provide robust evidence that ACP participation is associated with improved labor market outcomes, particularly among women and individuals with high-speed residential connections. These gains appear to be driven, in part, by increases in both the incidence and intensity of remote work. The findings suggest that a narrow focus on first-level adoption outcomes underestimates the broader socioeconomic benefits of affordable broadband initiatives. Theoretically, they indicate that the so-called Matthew effect – whereby digitization amplifies existing social inequalities – is not inevitable and can be partially offset by well-designed, targeted policy interventions.

Has broadband adoption gone as far as it’s going to go? Why does it matter?

Posted on by
Reply

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society looks at leveling off of broadband adoption in the last few years (The End of Progress: New Data Raises the Alarm that No Progress May Be the New Normal for the Digital Divide)…

The 2024 American Community Survey (ACS) shows essentially no change in wireline broadband adoption between 2023 and 2024 and just a 1-point increase in the share of households with broadband of any type. The primary growth in broadband adoption of any type occurred among households with subscriptions to cellular data plans for smartphones. The figure below shows the data.

The author (John Horrigan) calls this a consequence of an income constrained saturation point and explains why this is a societal issue…

The consequences of this income constrained saturation point becoming an enduring condition are important. Key services in our society are increasingly optimized in a way that assumes people have both mobile and fixed-access subscriptions. Think about healthcare services. They are increasingly designed such that online tools contain test results, post-intervention care instructions, and wellness information as well as a platform for telehealth sessions. A fixed (i.e., wireline) connection at home (with a sufficiently large video display) facilitates video interactions with healthcare providers. For check-ins, co-pays, and reminders, many systems are designed with mobile access at the forefront. Educational or job training applications function best with large displays on fixed connections, while mobile access supplements with scheduling and other resources. With generous (or unlimited) monthly data allotments, fixed subscription plans give users latitude to benefit from such applications that mobile plans alone do not allow.

He offers some policy solutions…

This leaves policy intervention as an option to reverse the tide. The return of a program such as the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is an obvious tool, as it proved effective in bringing millions of households online and maintaining connections for millions more low-income homes.8 The chances of ACP’s revival do not seem good at the moment. But it is worth noting that all the current promises of the digital revolution—productivity enhanced by artificial intelligence, improvements in health care delivery and outcomes—are premised on widespread and robust connectivity among all citizens. The current data on broadband adoption indicate that this connectivity will not likely happen due to market forces alone.

AARP collect stories on how seniors are using broadband and the impact of losing ACP funds

Posted on by
Reply

AARP reports on how low-income former Affordable Connectivity Program recipients use the Internet…

When the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) ended in April 2024, a well-known financial juggling act ensued.

Low-income recipients, now left to pay for their internet services without assistance from the federal program, shuffled payments, negotiated discounts, haggled, and stretched their limited financial resources to remain connected, a recent AARP study showed.

Using interviews, in-home observations, and video diaries to understand how people adapted once the $30 monthly benefit disappeared, the study highlighted how former ACP recipients reacted to the loss of help with a utility that has become commonplace in nearly every societal activity.  Researchers conducted interviews with a dozen former ACP recipients age 50-plus, including six who were interviewed in 2023.

Here’s a collection of one of their videos. There are several in the article.

Charter execs face class action after $9 billion stock drop linked to loss of ACP for subscribers

Posted on by
Reply

Broadband Breakfast reports…

Charter Communications CEO Chris Winfrey and CFO Jessica Fischer have been sued in a class action.

The core allegation: Charter allegedly misled investors about the financial impact of the end of the Affordable Connectivity Program.

The suit, filed Thursday by plaintiff Mark Sandoval in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, alleged that the executives issued “materially false and misleading statements” that led investors to believe the company could quickly move past the loss of the federal subsidy. The ACP, which provided $30 monthly discounts for low-income households until funding ran out in May 2024, had supported about 5 million Charter customers.

What are the costs to families that lost access to Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) broadband subsidies?

Posted on by
Reply

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society report…

The end of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) created costs and tensions for beneficiaries that went beyond their losing the $30-per-month service subsidy. In a series of in-depth interviews from the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and conducted by SSRS, Inc., participants lamented the program’s end while also expressing frustration with increased monthly internet costs and a dearth of low-cost options in the market.

Their reactions fell into three categories:

  1. Frustration over lack of choice in service providers that limited their ability to find budget-friendly alternatives once their ACP subsidies ended. There is a sense that society is effectively telling people they must have service, yet does not give them adequate service options that are both affordable and of sufficient quality.
  2. Contending with lower quality of service that was the result of having to switch to a different plan. This has limited students’ ability to do homework and caused problems in carrying out telehealth visits for patients with limited mobility.
  3. Cutting back on other expenditures as part of a difficult balancing act to maintain connectivity. This includes forgoing visits to the doctor or picking up side jobs to keep internet service on at home. The balancing act is precarious and not always successful, as the ACP’s end has led to service disconnections for some.

Participants in the interviews were members of low-income households that had used the ACP benefit to help defray monthly service costs. They were well attuned to societal changes that have made at-home internet service essential. These changes were not just about the pandemic but also included changes in their children’s educational experiences and how people interact with health care providers. This made the ACP a real aid to manage a tight household budget in the midst of having to do more things online. When the ACP ended, the question for most people was not whether to keep service but how to keep it while juggling other household needs.

Loss of ACP means reduced spending on food and clothing and/or lose access to family and loved one

Posted on by
Reply

C|Net posts an article on the impact of the loss of Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) money…

Former ACP enrollees have had to make a number of compromises to keep their internet on since it ended a year ago. A January survey from the National Lifeline Association found that nearly 40% of people enrolled in the program said they had to reduce spending on food to afford their new internet bill. 41% cut back on necessities like clothing, heat and doctor’s visits. Another 18% said their kids had difficulty completing homework assignments.

But the number that stuck out to me the most was the 64% who said they’re unable to maintain regular contact with family and loved ones. That was something I heard echoed by nearly every ACP user I spoke with for this piece: Life without an internet connection can be incredibly isolating.

Remind us of the history…

The ACP provided $30 a month to help low-income households pay for an internet connection, or $75 for people living on Tribal lands. The program accepted households at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines, or $60,000 for a family of four. Prices to get online have only gone up since it ended, with 63% of customers reporting higher internet bills than the year before in a recent CNET survey.

Despite broad bipartisan support from voters — and from former senator, now Vice President J.D. Vance, who co-sponsored a bill in 2024 to extend the ACP — the program officially ran out of money one year ago. Starting in June 2024, ACP users were faced with a stark choice: find an extra $30 in their monthly budget or cut the cord on their internet connection entirely.

“It was just a sad moment,” Burrell said. “I was praying that they’d let us keep it. But it was over.”

And the impact of the loss…

Those projections are no longer theoretical. A recent Ookla report found that the broadband divide grew in 32 states in the second half of 2024, which lines up almost exactly with the ACP’s end. (Disclaimer: Ookla is owned by Ziff Davis, the same company that owns CNET.)

Broadband prices are going up and customers are making hard decisions

Posted on by
Reply

C|Net reports…

Higher prices have come for your internet bill — at least it feels that way for many. That’s according to a new CNET survey that found 63% of US adults paying for home internet saw their prices increase last year. On average, they paid $195 more last year than they did the year before.

Price hikes didn’t necessarily translate to better service, either. More than half of people who saw their bills increase said they still experienced unreliable connectivity.

They talk about the role of the end of the ACP, but they don’t talk about percentage-wise and dollar-wise how the loss impacts the overall results…

CNET’s survey also sheds light on the impact of the Affordable Connectivity Program’s end, a $30 monthly subsidy that helped low-income households pay for internet that shut down in mid-2024. 12% of respondents said they’ve seen their bills increase in the past year after the benefit went away.

“The demise of ACP was detrimental to so many and I think that this is reflected in these numbers,” said Christopher Ali, professor of telecommunications at Penn State University.

By the time the Federal Communications Commission ended ACP enrollments in February 2024, 23 million Americans had enrolled. The program accepted households at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines, or $60,000 in annual income for a family of four last year.

A major concern here is the decrease in broadband adoption. For as long as I’ve written about broadband, cost has been the great barrier.

Benton finds connection between ACP and broadband adoption

Posted on by
Reply

A new report from the Benton Institue for Broadband and Society finds…

ACP and BROADBAND ADOPTION
· As ACP enrollment rose from 15 million households to nearly 23 million at the end of 2023, there was a positive link between ACP enrollment (as a share of eligible
households) and the level of broadband adoption (either wireless or wireline) in 2023 data.
· Statistical analysis shows that ACP had a role in “net additions” to broadband subscription levels on the order of 2.9 percentage points nationally, or approximately 3.8 million households.
· There was also a positive correlation between the growth in broadband adoption from 2021 to 2023 and ACP enrollment. This growth was in the context of very small growth in overall broadband adoption from 2021 to 2023. Analysis indicates that, absent ACP, growth in broadband adoption of any type would have been 0.8 of a percentage point lower than it was.
· These two types of positive correlations—between ACP enrollment and levels of broadband adoption in 2023 and growth in between 2021 and 2023—are evidence that areas where significant numbers of eligible households enrolled in ACP had more broadband subscribers than they otherwise would have.
ACP HELPED GET PEOPLE ONLINE in RURAL AREAS
· The “net addition” effect described above was more likely to be a rural phenomenon, meaning rural areas were associated with higher levels of broadband adoption
compared with urban areas—with ACP enrollment having a significant role in supporting subscriptions. The “net addition” effect was 6.9 percent in rural areas, compared with 1.7 percent in urban areas.

ACP HELPED KEEP PEOPLE ONLINE in URBAN AREAS
· In urban and metro areas, ACP had a somewhat stronger influence on retaining existing subscribers. These are the “subscription vulnerable,” whose home internet connections
are sometimes at risk due to household budgetary pressure. Urban and metro areas have higher costs for foundational parts of the household budget, like food and housing. Including those factors in the analysis shows that ACP’s cost relief helps them stay online.
· ACP’s impact on the “subscription vulnerable” affects approximately 11.5 million households in this category; i.e., the ACP keeps about 8.8 percent of households online
with wireline service who otherwise might not be able to sustain service.

ITIF recommends capping broadband deployment costs and reallocating funds to affordability initiatives

Posted on by
Reply

Another opinion piece in the Duluth News Tribune, this one from Joe Kane, director of broadband and spectrum policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (itif.org) in Washington, D.C….

It’s time for a bold rethinking of broadband policy to match today’s realities — and to stop wasting taxpayer dollars on problems we’ve already solved.

Federal programs like the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) initiative, the Federal Communications Commission’s High-Cost Fund, and the Agriculture Department’s ReConnect program remain fixated on expensive infrastructure projects even as those deployment gaps have closed.

The FCC reports that 99.98% of U.S. locations have access to broadband speeds of 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload. Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites and fixed-wireless access reach even the most remote areas.

BEAD keeps pouring billions into fiber projects costing $70,000 per household — when Starlink could connect them for $600 — and the FCC’s High-Cost Fund spends $4.5 billion yearly on rural broadband, dwarfing the $900 million allocated to the FCC’s affordability program, Lifeline. Exorbitant infrastructure costs siphon away resources that could make broadband more affordable for low-income families.

This misalignment of priorities is inefficient and a missed opportunity to address the deeper issues causing the digital divide.

According to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, nearly 15% of offline households cite cost as the main barrier to broadband adoption. Programs like the COVID-era Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) demonstrate how targeted subsidies can close this gap. The ACP provided $30 monthly to low-income households, but its overly broad eligibility criteria — covering 42% of U.S. households — led to unsustainable costs. By mid-2024, the ACP ran out of funding and collapsed.

Congress should reallocate funds from costly deployment initiatives to affordability and digital literacy to deliver greater effect and cost taxpayers much less. Cutting outdated deployment programs could more than pay for a reformed ACP, offering targeted subsidies to households earning up to 135% of the federal poverty line or those recently unemployed.

Likewise, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration should reform BEAD to make it technology-neutral and then cap per-location costs at $1,200 to finish any remaining deployment gaps for a fraction of the cost of the current fiber bias. States should then use the savings to address the affordability and digital literacy barriers that comprise the bulk of the remaining digital divide.

Turns out the Affordable Connectivity Program was a good investment – according to report

Posted on by
Reply

The Brattle Group reports…

The ACP helped connect more than 23 million households to internet service. However, the program expired in May 2024 due to a lack of funding. In the report, the Brattle coauthors show that reinstating the ACP could lead to significant savings and benefits for the U.S. in healthcare, education, and the labor market. The total quantified benefits in these areas are significantly larger than the program’s modest annual cost of $7.3 billion; in fact, the overall healthcare savings alone are quadruple the ACP’s annual funding and could more than offset the costs of the entire program if it were reinstated.

Key highlights of the report include:

  • By improving access to telehealth alone, the ACP generates an estimated $28.9–$29.5 billion in annual healthcare cost savings. Increased access to virtual care reduces the need for in-person medical visits while generating better health outcomes.

  • A switch from one physical visit to telehealth for one single Medicaid recipient could save enough money to fund 5 years of ACP support for one Medicaid recipient.

  • Over 80% of the annual costs of the ACP could be offset solely from $6.0 billion in Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scorable telehealth-induced cost savings under Medicaid.

  • Reinstating the ACP would improve students’ academic performance and benefit their future earnings by over $3.7 billion per year, starting approximately 10 years after high school.

  • $2.1–$4.3 billion in annual wage gains from expanded labor force participation could be generated if the program were reinstated.

Who are the Brattle Group? According to the website…

The Brattle Group answers complex economic, finance, and regulatory questions for corporations, law firms, and governments around the world. We are distinguished by the clarity of our insights and the credibility of our experts, which include leading international academics and industry specialists. Brattle has 500 talented professionals across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

They have been around since 1983 and work with law firms and large companies.

EVENT Feb 3: Consider Affordable Broadband State-By-State

Posted on by
Reply

An invitation from the Institute for Local Self Reliance…

As other states consider filing or supporting legislation similar to New York’s Affordable Broadband Act that requires large broadband providers to offer a low-cost plan for low-income households, ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative is hosting a special live forum focused on what New York lawmakers did with the law and the ripple effects it has created.

“Consider Affordable Broadband State-By-State” will be held live on Monday February 3rd from 3:00 to 4 pm ET on ILSR’s YouTube channel.

The agenda will focus on what New York’s affordable broadband law includes and what other states may want to consider in crafting similar legislation.

The livestream will be free to any interested participants. It can be viewed here.

Bring your questions as the live forum will hold space for Q&A.

Ahead of the live stream, you can read our analysis and our fact sheets on the law here and here.

Benton outlines reasons Congress should revisit strategies for affordable broadband

Posted on by
Reply

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society outlines reasons Congress should make affordable broadband a priority in 2025…

The ACP’s purpose was well-founded. The program addressed the main cause of the digital divide: internet service is too expensive for low-income households.

The ACP was evenly distributed. ACP benefits helped people across rural and urban areas and Republican and Democratic districts.

The ACP was well-targeted. The program primarily helped households who needed it most. Most of the households enrolled in ACP because they participated in other assistance programs, like Medicaid, SNAP, and Lifeline. That meant their annual incomes were generally at or below $20,000.

The ACP’s impact benefits everyone, regardless of income. The program promoted investment in broadband infrastructure, benefiting everyone whether they participated in the ACP or not.

The ACP was popular: The program was user-friendly, got people online for the first time, and was integral to America’s technological future. For all these reasons, the ACP had overwhelming support among voters, advocates, industry, state officials, and, as we noted, Members of Congress.

In 2024, Congress dropped the ball on affordable broadband. But in this new year, in this new Congress, we need to connect everyone.

Education Superhighway recommends broadband subsidies for homes that need it

Posted on by
Reply

In a recent report Education Superhighway recommends broadband subsidies for homes that need it…

To ensure every household has reliable, affordable internet, Congress should create a new permanent broadband affordability program targeted toward those who truly need it. The benefit should only apply to entry-level home
broadband plans, and it can be revenue-neutral, fully funded by repurposing USF High Cost Program funds as they expire. The new program would provide greater
stability to under-resourced households and ensure that states that included the ACP as a tool for addressing broadband affordability in their BEAD and Digital
Equity Act plans have a viable alternative. The benefit should be:

1. Focused on 16.3 million unconnected households and 3 million likely to be disconnected, ensuring the benefit is a tool that provides a high-speed connection or prevents disconnection when financial circumstances change.
Changing eligibility criteria to focus on unconnected households provides annual savings of $4.6 billion compared with ACP.
2. Paid for by repurposing Universal Service Fund (USF) High Cost Program funds as they expire. This revenue-neutral approach covers 100% of the cost of the broadband affordability benefit, starting immediately, without taxpayer burden.
3. Applicable only to entry-level home broadband plans, providing households with the high-speed connection needed to get an entire family online for remote work, education, and telehealth services. The Lifeline program should remain the primary program for supporting mobile service and connections outside the home.
4. Limited to broadband plans at or below the $30 subsidy price (or $75 on qualifying Tribal lands or in high cost rural areas) to harness market forces by acknowledging that households already subscribed to advanced broadband
plans are financially capable of maintaining a connection without support and unlikely to trade down from their chosen plan.

Bipartisan group of senators looking at USF – could ACP be part of the solution?

Posted on by
Reply

Newsweek reports…

To revive the ACP, Congress will need to reauthorize it. But it’s not looking likely.

Unfortunately, it’s coming down to details on reforms. Some members take issue with the ACP’s rather expansive eligibility, which may lead to wasteful spending. Some argue that there is a lot of abuse of the program given the self-certification model that some providers used.

Here’s the good news: Both sides seem willing to make compromises. The bad news is that conversations have completely stalled.

The reality is that, if Congress cannot reach a consensus on the ACP to address affordability, it only puts more strain on existing programs like Lifeline, which is funded by the FCC’s Universal Service Fund (USF).

But USF programs are far from perfect.

USF is a general fund that pays for four subsidy programs: Lifeline, the High-Cost Program, the Rural Health Fund, and E-Rate. Lifeline and E-Rate are the ones most akin to the ACP. Lifeline provides subsidized telephone and broadband services to low-income individuals. E-Rate provides discounts for telecommunications, internet access, and internal connections to schools and libraries.

Even though these programs seem arcane, you most likely unknowingly interact with USF already—because you, the consumer, fund it when you pay your monthly phone bill as a surcharge for your service. Since 2002, the tax to you has steadily risen from 6.8 percent to an astonishing 34.4 percent, increasing your phone service cost. Sadly, that figure is only going to increase further.

Not only is consumer cost a concern, but USF programs are notoriously inefficient at closing the digital divide. Keep in mind, Lifeline has been around since 1985 and has yet to make similar dents to broadband adoption that ACP has accomplished in just three years. And USF compliance costs are fairly high for companies seeking to participate.

Fortunately, a bipartisan group of senators is looking into USF reform and, even better, there are solutions on which both parties can agree. One is for Congress to simply roll the ACP into USF’s contribution regime and have it take the place of less efficient programs with similar mandates, like Lifeline.

Much of what I read daily is industry publications. It’s always interesting to look at what a mainstream source, such as Newsweek, is saying. They hit on the topics that they think will interest more folks, and in an area such as telecom, they focus on making it easy to understand. It’s worth the extra minute to read the full article.

VP Harris has plan to reinstate the Affordable Connectivity Program

Posted on by
Reply

Vice President Kamala Harris has plan to improve economic opportunities, especially for black men…

This year, Vice President Harris launched a first-of-its-kind, nationwide Economic Opportunity Tour to help entrepreneurs access the capital and resources they need to launch and grow their businesses, build wealth, and strengthen their communities—especially Black male entrepreneurs. While traveling across the country to cities like Atlanta, Detroit, and Charlotte, she heard powerful stories from Black men about the biggest hurdles that still make it too difficult for them to get their businesses off the ground and grow them to meet their full ambitions and discussed policies that can help break down remaining barriers to success.

That includes reinstating ACP…

Providing Black men and their families with reliable, low-cost internet access, by reenacting the Affordable Connectivity Program. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Affordable Connectivity Program provided 23 million households with up to $30 off of their monthly internet bills and a one-time discount of up to $100 to buy a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet. This program connected an estimated 5.5 million Black households to affordable high-speed internet, closing the digital divide for millions of Black families. Vice President Harris will reenact this popular program, which ended June of this year, to ensure that Black men and their families throughout the country are able to connect to the internet and obtain the financial, educational, and employment opportunities that come from reliable internet access.