The Last Month of the Affordable Connectivity Program

April 30, 2024 marked the final day of the Affordable Connectivity Program’s (ACP) last fully funded month. With the end of April, many ACP providers will offer a lower benefit of $14 for the month of May, while others may simply begin the process of transferring ACP customers to other plans or, in a worst case scenario, removing them from plans altogether. This could mean that over 20 million households could soon find themselves paying significantly more for or losing their Internet connection entirely.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel sent a letter to Congress, stating that: “If the ACP ends, we risk reversing the significant progress this program has made towards closing the digital divide. Over the past two years, households have come to rely on the ACP’s monthly benefit to afford reliable and consistent access to broadband services necessary for education, work, and health care among other things.”

This potential loss of connectivity for so many households is unacceptable. Fully participating in our ever increasingly digital society requires an Internet connection, for work, education, accessing social benefits, and keeping connected with friends and family. An April 2024 report from Roberto Gallardo and Brian Whitacre that compared 2021 Ookla speed test data to Census Internet adoption data found that communities with older residents, more rural, and higher poverty, the average download speed decreased.

Local Partnerships and State Digital Equity Planning

Leaving millions of households without the service they need undermines digital equity efforts that have taken center stage for the last four years. The federal government has relied on trusted local partners in spreading the word about the ACP. Thanks to community leaders across the country, nearly half of all eligible households have enrolled in the program after just three years. Renewing the ACP is vitally important to preserving the trusted relationships developed across local, state, and federal partners.

ACP has been a catalyst for providers moving into areas previously considered unprofitable, improving competition and expanding consumer choice. Likewise, numerous state Digital Equity Plans across the US cite ACP as a key strategy to addressing affordability.

The ACP Extension Act

Losing the ACP will affect the Internet connections for a sixth of the households across the country. Despite ongoing bipartisan support for ACP, Congress has yet to extend the program, leaving tens of millions of households facing disconnection or lower quality service. Affordable home broadband connections provide exponential economic impacts for families. Research from John Horrigan found that every $1 in ACP subsidies provides $2 in economic benefits. If the Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act passed, Congress could still show that they can work together to protect the livelihood of their constituents.

The final month of the ACP provides households with participating providers with less than half of the benefit they have been receiving. This decrease in support may be the precipice between a household continuing their current plan, switching to service that may not meet their family’s needs, or facing disconnection. No household should ever have to choose between food or an Internet connection.

Fortunately, there is still time for Congress to pass the ACP Extension Act. Passing this bill would provide the much needed funding for the ACP to remain in effect until the end of 2024. While this is not a permanent solution, it buys ACP recipients and policymakers much needed time to determine how to permanently fund this necessary program.

Read More from Next Century Cities:

• Rallying for the Affordable Connectivity Program With Nonprofit Partners Public Knowledge
• The Loss of the Affordable Connectivity Program Could Look Like Digital Discrimination

Additional Resources:

• As ACP Funding Dwindles, What is the Future of Broadband Affordability? Grace Tepper, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society
• Evaluating the Impact of the Affordable Connectivity Program, Hernan Galperin & François Bar, University of Southern California
• End of Affordable Connectivity Program Will Hurt Broadband Deployment, Molly Christian, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association