Digital Beat

Delaware Wants to be the First State to
Achieve Universal Broadband—
Affordability is a Key Component

Delaware recognizes access to affordable, reliable internet connectivity at home as one of five critical elements of digital equity.

Delaware’s goal for broadband deployment is to be the first state to deliver universal broadband—that is, to ensure an affordable high-speed internet connection to all homes and businesses.

Affordability is the second most common reason for nonsubscription cited by Delawarean households who do not purchase home internet service—ranking above a lack of need for or interest in service, and slightly below service not being available. The struggle of some Delaware residents to afford broadband services, devices, and technical support restricts their ability to fully engage in the digital world. The costs associated with internet subscriptions, necessary hardware, and technical assistance disproportionately affect lower-income families in Delaware, preventing them from accessing essential online resources such as education, job opportunities, and government services.

In Delaware, low-income individuals are 15.4 percentage points less likely than higher-income individuals to have a home internet subscription—highlighting the connection between affordability and internet adoption. Among Delaware households that do not subscribe to internet service of any kind, an estimated six percent report that a primary reason they do not pay for internet service at home is an inability to afford that service.

Delaware's Department of Technology and Information (DTI) seeks to increase affordability of broadband services and devices through collaboration with local, state, and community partners. As lower-income households are disproportionately representative of racial and ethnic minorities, English language learners, persons with disabilities, and residents returning from incarceration, this barrier affects covered populations beyond low household income.

DTI is Delaware's central IT organization, chartered to (1) deliver core services to other state organizations and (2) exercise governance over the technology direction and investments of the state.

The Affordable Connectivity Program in Delaware

In March 2023, Governor John Carney (D-DE) and municipal leaders launched a statewide initiative to increase awareness of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), the federal benefit that helped lower-income families pay for high-speed internet. The initiative leveraged state and city channels to directly promote the ACP to households in benefit programs like SNAP, Free and Reduced-Price School Lunch, and WIC—and unite local governments, community-based organizations, and trusted institutions to reach unconnected households.

As part of the effort, EducationSuperHighway—a national non-profit with a mission to close the broadband affordability gap—supported statewide awareness efforts by training community leaders and partner organizations and providing outreach materials and tools to help households enroll. EducationSuperHighway launched GetACP.org, a virtual mobile assistant that simplified the ACP enrollment process by providing real-time support to help eligible households determine the easiest way to qualify. The mobile website was available in four languages and helped applicants overcome critical barriers in the enrollment process by helping them identify the documents needed when applying and finding “free with ACP” broadband plans available at their address.

At the time, more than 140,000 Delaware households were estimated to be eligible for the ACP, and about 32,000 households had enrolled. By July 2023, about one-quarter of ACP-eligible households in Delaware had enrolled in the program (lagging the national enrollment rate of 32%).

Due to a lack of additional Congressional funding, the FCC officially ended the ACP on June 1, 2024.

The Low-Cost Broadband Service Option in Delaware

This low-cost option will only be required for consumers who receive high-speed internet access via the BEAD program. It does not place any price requirements for addresses not included in the BEAD program.

The State of Delaware is committed to providing residents with the opportunity to receive low-cost broadband service, while simultaneously recognizing that ISPs have a variety of different plans and may be unable to alter their pricing structure on a large scale. DTI believes it is highly unlikely that ISPs would implement different pricing structures for BEAD-funded areas only, while maintaining other pricing in areas that are not BEAD-funded. That said, the $30 monthly ACP subsidy figure aligns with many current ISP low-cost offerings in Delaware and represents a sensible benchmark cost for a low-cost service option to be offered by subgrantees.

DTI’s intention is to aid as many Delaware residents as possible while ensuring that the scale of the low-cost obligation—and its resulting impact on the business case to build to unserved Delaware locations—is not too burdensome to grant applicants. DTI viewed the eligibility requirement for the ACP subsidy program (household income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty line) as a precedent for that benchmark. DTI also eyed the potential to utilize the ACP National Verifier as a useful, low-cost means of verifying eligibility that would not impose additional burdens on either consumers or ISPs.

DTI proposed to require all BEAD subgrantees to offer a service option that meets, at a minimum, the following criteria:

Costs $30 per month or less, inclusive of all taxes, fees, and charges billed to the consumer.
Subscribers using this low-cost broadband service option would have had to be ACP eligible (or eligible for a successor program enacted by Congress, if that happens) and would also have been permitted to apply the ACP subsidy amount toward the plan’s rate. ISPs would have been required to allow the end user to apply the ACP benefit subsidies to the service price. (DTI encouraged ISPs to ensure that prospective customers were aware of their participation in the ACP.)
In the event the ISP later offers a low-cost plan with higher speeds downstream and/or upstream, permits eligible subscribers that are subscribed to a low-cost broadband service option to upgrade to the new low-cost offering at no cost.
Providers will be held to performance requirements as established by the BEAD program, with download speeds of at least 100 Mbps and upload speeds of at least 20 Mbps. Provides typical latency measurements of no more than 100 milliseconds.
Is not subject to data caps, surcharges, or usage-based throttling, and is subject only to the same acceptable use policies to which subscribers to all other broadband internet access service plans offered to home subscribers by the participating subgrantee must adhere.
Allows subscribers to upgrade at no cost in the event the provider later offers a low-cost plan with higher speeds (downstream or upstream).
While Applicants must commit to this price for the useful life of the BEAD-funded infrastructure, DTI will allow ISPs to adjust this Low-Cost Option in line with increases marked in the Consumer Price Index.

Since ACP has ended, DTI will keep the low-cost offering price point requirement at $30 per month or less. However, ISPs will be able to submit to DTI a waiver request asking for an increase of the low-cost price up to no more than $65/month. The waiver request should contain evidence supporting the ISP's proposed rate, including evidence as to:

How the proposed rate is affordable to low-income Delawareans;
Per-subscriber costs in an area indicating that the target effective rate above would be financially unsustainable; and,
The impact on average revenue per user (ARPU) and total project revenue of the target effective rate above would be financially unsustainable given actual or projected subscriber adoption patterns.

Middle-Class Affordability Plans in Delaware

Pointing to an International Telecommunication Union policy brief, DTI says that based on the work of digital equity researchers and advocates over the past decades, an affordable broadband service can be defined as one whose cost does not exceed two percent of household income. The FCC has used the benchmark of two percent of a household’s disposable income to measure the affordability of voice and broadband service expenditures in its Universal Service Monitoring Report. But considering affordability as a simple percentage of income can disregard differential burdens placed on low-income households. In measuring affordability, DTI will work to monitor the impact of broadband costs on communities at the highest risk of disconnection.

DTI’s middle-class affordability plan is designed to ensure that every BEAD-funded network’s service area provides high-quality broadband service to all middle-class households at reasonable prices. DTI plans to manage middle-class affordability within the context of the BEAD program by addressing the following areas of risk:

High pricing for fast service: Using scoring criteria for BEAD applications, DTI will reward providers who provide the lowest costs for 1 Gbps symmetrical service. Providers will be encouraged to provide cost-effective, high-speed service to consumers.
Providers shift drop and installation costs to the consumer to recover capital costs: Grant participation rules will make clear that drops and network equipment are eligible BEAD costs and should be built into grant proposals to avoid inflated subscriber prices. BEAD subgrantees will not be allowed to shift drop and installation costs to the consumer on a BEAD-funded project.
Providers refuse to provide service to expensive locations: DTI will monitor and ensure that awardees make good on their BEAD service commitments, including not assessing additional fees beyond standard installation fees.
Differential pricing between urban and new project areas: The gigabit best pricing policy mandated in the BEAD program scoring matrix sets requirements around geographic nondiscrimination.

Ongoing Work

Although DTI has set guidelines for low-income and middle-class service options, the agency recognizes this work will be ongoing and indicates that it will work on the following.

Should Congress authorize and fund any successor programs to ACP, DTI will work with NTIA to incorporate those new programs into the BEAD plan and BEAD subawards in a way that is consistent with all applicable laws and guidance.
DTI will continue to monitor the affordability of available service options within the State and encourage providers to offer a range of options that support broadband adoption by residents regardless of income level and reduce the burden on lower-income subscribers.
In measuring affordability, DTI will work to monitor the impact of broadband costs on communities at the highest risk of disconnection.
DTI will continue to engage its robust evaluation of evolving definitions of “middle class” and evaluate the affordability of high-speed internet to the evolving definition.
DTI will meet regularly with providers and encourage them to offer price points that accommodate subscribers’ ability and desire to pay for reliable, high-speed service through a range of solutions, including but not limited to establishing, making publicly available to consumers, and monitoring benchmarks for affordability; providing subsidies for broadband service; encouraging providers to extend low-cost service options to all subscribers; weighting affordability criteria in the scoring of its BEAD grant program; and promoting structural competition through regulations.

Additional Coverage on Delaware Broadband Priorities

See the latest Delaware broadband news

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The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people in the U.S. have access to competitive, High-Performance Broadband regardless of where they live or who they are. We believe communication policy - rooted in the values of access, equity, and diversity - has the power to deliver new opportunities and strengthen communities.

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Kevin Taglang
Executive Editor, Communications-related Headlines
Benton Institute
for Broadband & Society
1041 Ridge Rd, Unit 214
Wilmette, IL 60091
847-220-4531
headlines AT benton DOT org

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