An FCC order directing the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau to issue an additional notice of funding opportunity for the affordable connectivity program's national competitive outreach grant and the tribal competitive outreach grant programs is effective Tuesday, said a notice for that day's Federal Register. The commission made up to $10 million available to be spent equally by each grant program (see 2303150058).
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.
The FCC Wireline Bureau selected two more entities for the affordable connectivity program's Your Home, Your Internet Pilot and ACP Navigator Pilot programs Thursday. Baltimore County Public Library and Florida Atlantic University were selected to participate and will do so without grant funding, said a public notice in docket 21-450. A total of 34 entities were selected to participate in the two pilot programs (see 2303150058).
Consumer advocates and local broadband officials emphasized the need for states to engage community stakeholders as they prepare their digital equity plans funded by the Digital Equity Act, during a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday (see 2211020082). Some urged additional funding for the FCC's affordable connectivity program to ensure low-income households can adopt broadband once NTIA's grant programs are implemented.
More than 17 million households have enrolled in the FCC's affordable connectivity program to date, the agency announced Monday. The FCC partnered with the U.S. Digital Service to develop "a series of enhancements to the online consumer application system," said a news release. Among the changes included "providing clear instructions, to decrease steps and to simplify language while continuing to protect against waste, fraud and abuse and guarding the integrity of the program." The rollout is "part of our ongoing work to improve the consumer experience with the program," said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. U.S. Digital Service Deputy Administrator Cori Zarek said the changes will "streamline the process" to ensure "as little friction as possible" during the application process. The enhancements were "developed in consultation with digital navigators, digital equity advocates, and [ISPs]."
The FCC Wireline Bureau released draft guidance Monday on the type of data to be collected for the affordable connectivity program's data collection. Comments on the proposed information collection are due May 15 in docket 21-450, said a public notice.
Programs to promote broadband access need a sustainable, reliable source of funding beyond the current one-time federal infusion, and should partner with local community organizations to succeed, said panelists Thursday at the FCC Communications Equity and Diversity Council’s “Lessons Learned from the Pandemic” virtual roundtable. “We cannot fund [broadband access programs] only at one time, during a crisis,” said Ovidiu Viorica, who manages the broadband and technology program for the New Mexico Public School Facilities Authority. “We have to make the funding predictable, and continuous because that's what it's going to take.”
California policymakers should reconsider what counts as free broadband service as it doles out public housing grants, said the California Broadband and Video Association (CalBroadband) Tuesday. In a petition at the California Public Utilities Commission, the state cable association raised concerns with a December CPUC resolution (T-17775), saying services made free by the federal affordable connectivity program (ACP) aren’t truly free. CalBroadband’s petition should be rejected, two consumer advocates responded Wednesday.
Delaware and several municipalities seek to increase awareness of the federal affordable connectivity program, Gov. John Carney (D) said Tuesday. Local leaders in Dover, Wilmington and other cities and towns plan outreach efforts over the next month, the governor’s office said.
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., pressed the FCC Thursday for a detailed accounting of its distribution of money to four broadband programs enacted via the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and COVID-19 aid measures. Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., meanwhile, led refiling of the Funding Affordable Internet with Reliable (Fair) Contributions Act.
The administrative law judge process at the FCC is “completely broken” and “something you would find in a banana republic,” not the U.S., former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said during a Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy webinar Wednesday. O’Rielly noted review by an ALJ was recently “activated” as part of the review of the Standard/Tegna deal (see 2303100082.)