OTI to FCC: Make the Emergency Broadband Benefit a ‘Rapid Success’

New America's Open Technology Institute urged the Federal Communications Commission to quickly and successfully implement the Emergency Broadband Benefit, a new subsidy to help low-income people pay for broadband service during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program will provide $50 per month to qualifying low-income households and $75 in Tribal areas. OTI’s comments made the following recommendations:

1. The FCC needs to build consumer trust in the new program
2. The program should adopt a “broadband nutrition label”
3. The FCC should prioritize finishing the National Verifier
4. The FCC should maximally streamline the application process for K-12 and higher education students
5. The FCC should collect ISP pricing data to ensure program integrity
6. The FCC should prohibit ancillary fees in qualifying service plans
7. The government and providers should aggressively publicize the program, including to consumers with previously unpaid bills
8. The FCC should report weekly on program expenditures