FCC: End of Affordable Broadband Program

The Affordable Connectivity Program will officially end on Saturday, leaving more than 23 million U.S. households facing an imminent increase in monthly broadband costs.

The FCC announced the ACP’s expiration on Friday after months of requests from Biden administration officials for Congress to renew funding for the program, which reduced $30 from the end of 2021 on the broadband bills of eligible lower-income households.

In February, the FCC stopped accepting enrollment from ACP countries and warned that remaining money allocated to the program under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act would not allow full benefits to eligible households after April. By lowering the standard $30 ACP grant to $14, the commission was able to extend funding through May.

The ACP program, which replaced the earlier pandemic assistance program, reached many more people than the less generous Lifeline program, which the FCC continues to operate thanks to a more open set of criteria. Household incomes up to 200% of the federal poverty guidelines qualified for a $30 ACP rebate (raised to $75 on qualifying tribal lands), as did participating in Medicaid or having a child who received free or reduced-cost school lunches.

The government paid these grants directly to service providers, eliminating the need for beneficiaries to wait to receive their monthly stipend. For people using Internet providers who accepted the Biden administration’s invitation to introduce $30 plans, ACP has made Internet access available for free.

By the time enrollment closed, a total of 23,269,550 households had signed up for ACP benefits, representing one in six Americans, according to Biden officials. ISPs have also called on Congress to extend the program — sometimes on the same calls as industry executives decrying the FCC’s reinstated net neutrality rules — but numerous bipartisan bills introduced to that end in the House and Senate have had no effect.

In a statement released Friday, the White House highlighted commitments from 15 internet providers – including AT&T, Comcast, Spectrum and Verizon – that will collectively cover 10 million ACP households and offer plans of $30 or less with no data caps by the end of 2024 year.

The largest of them, Comcast, announced in a post Friday that ACP customers can upgrade to its income-limited Internet Essentials program, which offers 50 Mbps download speeds for $9.95 a month, but also touted its new prepaid Internet Now unlimited data plans that start at $30 per month for 100Mbps download speeds with no income limits.

The White House statement gave hope that Congress could yet breathe life into the program, as did Friday’s post from the FCC chairman.

“No effort has ever done more to close our digital divide faster than the Affordable Connectivity Program,” wrote Jessica Rosenworcel. “The AKP has had too much influence and has too much bipartisan support on Capitol Hill and across the country to just go on and say it was nice while it lasted.”