Broadband experts raised concerns about the affordability requirements for middle-income households through NTIA's broadband, equity, access and deployment program, speaking during an American Enterprise Institute event Monday. Some said imposing pricing requirements and the FCC's efforts to reclassify broadband as a Title II service could hurt the BEAD program's deployment goals (see 2309280084).
Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)
What is the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)?
The Affordable Connectivity Program was a recently expired subsidy for low-income households to lower the cost of purchasing broadband internet and connected devices. The program was signed into law as part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and administered by the FCC up until June 1, 2024, due to expiration of the ACP’s funding.
Will the ACP Return?
Congress continues to debate restoring ACP funding, with immediate next steps likely to come from the Senate Commerce Committee or Congressional discussions on revising the Universal Service Fund.
Renew funding for the affordable connectivity program, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) urged his state’s congressional delegation this week. “We can run fiber broadband to every home in North Carolina, but if the residents can’t afford the service, they still risk being left behind,” said Cooper in letters shared Wednesday by the governor’s office. ACP funding could dry up this April, said Cooper: “Without bipartisan collaboration between Congress and the White House to continue the ACP, nearly 20 million households enrolled nationally could lose connectivity as well as all the essential services that come with it.”
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., said during a Thursday hearing they’re signing on to the USF working group that Senate Communications Subcommittee leaders formed in May to evaluate how to move forward on a comprehensive revamp of the program that may update its contribution factor to include non-wireline entities (see 2305110066). The Thursday hearing largely focused on USF revamp and possible integration of the affordable connectivity program, as expected (see 2309120059).
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau denied Virgin Islands Next Generation Network's (VINGN) petition for reconsideration of its final eligibility determination for the affordable connectivity outreach grant program because it met the definition of a "contractor" of a broadband provider, per a letter posted Monday in docket 21-450 (see 2304060064). VINGN also sought a waiver of the eligibility rule, saying it's an "instrumentality of the government of the USVI, a public corporation, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority." The bureau granted the waiver request, awarding VINGN $250,000.
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau awarded more than $1.2 million Wednesday in its final round of funding through the affordable connectivity program's tribal competitive outreach program (see 2303150058). The new funding will support five tribal organizations, said a public notice in docket 21-450. The funding was limited to governmental and nongovernmental tribal entities that will do outreach and enrollment assistance to eligible households on qualifying tribal lands.
The FCC Wireline Bureau is waiving some rules and deadlines for Lifeline, the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), E-rate, the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) Program, and Rural Health Care Program for areas affected by Tropical Storm Idalia, said an order Friday. “Because of these compelling and unique circumstances, we find good cause to waive certain rules and deadlines to assist program participants, service providers, and USF contributors in the affected areas,” the order said. The waived rules include Lifeline non-usage, recertification and reverification requirements, ACP non-usage and de-enrollment rules, and the deadlines to file E-Rate appeals. The waivers “promote the maintenance and rebuilding of communities affected by the hurricane” and “facilitate continued access to telecommunications services for disaster victims,” the order said. The FCC announced Thursday it was scaling back the storm-affected areas being monitored through the disaster information reporting system: DIRS was deactivated for all of South Carolina and for all but 13 counties in Florida. Friday’s DIRS report shows 5.4% of cellsites down in the covered area and 4,752 cable and wireline subscribers without service. No broadcast stations were reported out of service.
California Public Utilities Commission members rejected the state cable association’s bid to reconsider what counts as free broadband service as it doles out public housing grants. Through a unanimous vote on the consent agenda at a webcast Thursday meeting, California commissioners denied a California Broadband and Video Association (CalBroadband) petition. Commissioners later voted 5-0 to approve a $1.77 million grant to South Valley Internet under the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) line extension program.
The FCC's rules establishing an enhanced up-to-$75 monthly broadband subsidy through the affordable connectivity program for eligible households in high cost areas take effect Oct. 2, said a notice for Friday's Federal Register (see 2308030075).
Congress “should expedite passage” of the House Commerce Committee-cleared Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565) and “support additional funding for” the FCC’s affordable connectivity program to make it permanent, NARUC officials said Friday in letters to top lawmakers. HR-3565 faced headwinds on Capitol Hill amid slow progress in negotiations on a spectrum legislative compromise (see 2308070001). The measure “not only extends the FCC’s auction authority, but it also funds two programs critical to your constituents and to national security,” said NARUC President Michael Caron and Telecommunications Committee Chair Tim Schram in a letter to House and Senate leaders and top lawmakers of both chambers’ Commerce panels. HR-3565 would allocate up to $14.8 billion in future auction proceeds for next-generation 911 tech upgrades and give the FCC an additional $3.08 billion to close the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program funding shortfall. The rip-and-replace program is “chronically underfunded” and “federal funding is needed to ensure that all parts of the country have access to advanced, secure, and reliable emergency response systems,” NARUC leaders said. ACP, meanwhile, “has helped more than 19 million households” in the U.S., including “at least 3 million low-income seniors, 400,000 veterans, and more than 3 million students remain online,” Caron and Schram said in a letter to House and Senate leaders and the heads of the chambers’ Commerce and Appropriations committees. “Currently, the program is expected to run out of funds no later than second quarter 2024 and very likely much earlier.” The NARUC leaders referenced a resolution the group passed during its July meeting in Austin backing ACP’s renewal (see 2307190028).
Free Press urged lawmakers to make the FCC’s affordable connectivity program permanent as part of any USF revamp legislation. Congress should “appropriate the funding” for ACP “needed to ensure that low-income households can afford broadband long after the initial appropriation from” the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act “is expended,” FP said in comments to Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., and other USF revamp working group members released Monday. Some other commenters also urged Congress to make ACP permanent, in some cases suggesting it outright replace the Lifeline program (see 2308250064). FP also asked lawmakers and the FCC to “reject the cynical call from some of the nation’s largest businesses to massively lower their own USF contribution burdens by imposing a regressive tax on residential broadband services. These parties have for years falsely warned that the USF contributions system is in a death-spiral,” which “is simply not true. The fact is that the total USF contribution pool in real terms peaked in 2012, and has declined substantially since. While the overall contribution factor percentage has risen, the average residential consumer has seen their contribution burden decline slightly, as the burden borne by large businesses increased slightly.”