On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 230 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the US, and the 165 undersigned civil society organizations, municipal governments, and other interested groups, we write to request robust additional funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). The ACP’s current rate of expenditure is roughly $500 million per month. Based on this and projected growth, funding for the ACP could be exhausted by the second quarter of 2024, if not sooner. Without adequate and sustained funding, millions of vulnerable Americans relying on the program would see their internet bill jump or be disconnected entirely. Congress’s bipartisan $42 billion investment in broadband deployment will not meet the universal broadband deployment and adoption goal. Without action from Congress in 2023, millions of households could immediately lose service. In addition, the loss of ACP would reduce the efficacy of Congress’ groundbreaking $42 billion investment in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. A recent study concluded that the ACP reduces the size of the subsidy needed to incentivize broadband deployment in rural areas by 25 percent. ACP makes BEAD program dollars go farther. Sustained funding is critical as broadband companies and others consider the level of public and private investment needed to fulfill Congress’ goal of universal affordable broadband deployment and adoption.

The Federal Communications Commission has released the Broadband Funding Map. The Broadband Funding Map allows users to identify, search, and filter federal funding programs by the Internet Service Provider receiving funding, the duration timeline, the number of locations included in the project, and the download and upload speeds. In addition to depicting where broadband funding exists, the Broadband Funding Map contains broadband availability data as of June 30, 2022—the same data that currently appear on the National Broadband Map. When the Commission releases more recent availability data on the National Broadband Map, the Broadband Funding Map will be updated as well.

Loveland Pulse, a municipal broadband network in Loveland (CO), has seen considerable success since turning up its first residential customer in June 2020, and the company will be expanding to neighboring communities. Loveland Pulse was formed in 2018 by the city of Loveland and its local utility with the goal of getting high-speed broadband available community-wide. Brieana Reed-Harmel, fiber manager for the company, explained, “The incumbents were picking and choosing the parts of the community they wanted to serve.” It was particularly problematic for the school district, which was unable to do standardized testing for all students at the same time because of capacity constraints. The Loveland Pulse network was funded, in large part, through a municipal bond offering. Loveland Pulse has been deploying GPON and XGS-PON and expects to have service available throughout Loveland in 2023; where the company offered symmetrical speeds up to 10 Gbps from the start.