You’re reading the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society’s Weekly Digest, a recap of the biggest (or most overlooked) broadband stories of the week. The digest is delivered via e-mail each Friday.

Round-Up for the Week of September 30-October 4, 2024

The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) sees the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program as Virginia’s opportunity to finish the job of extending broadband access and also make long-term, transformational investments into broadband affordability and adoption. With the $1.48 billion in BEAD funds for Virginia, DHCD is finalizing plans to extend broadband infrastructure to the remaining unserved locations without a funded solution for connectivity and designing programs to meaningfully address broadband affordability and adoption. DHCD's approved Initial Proposal Volume II details how it plans to ensure affordable, reliable broadband for all in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Affordability in Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is home to approximately 1.4 million low-income households, which are defined by the NTIA as a household with an income less than 150 percent of the federal poverty level, as established by the Bureau of the Census.

As a part of the development of Virginia's Digital Opportunity Plan, DHCD distributed the statewide Digital Opportunity Survey to collect valuable quantitative data that helped paint the picture of the current state of Digital Opportunity in Virginia. According to survey findings, 29 percent of Virginians without internet access said that it was too expensive for them, and 51 percent of all respondents were unwilling to pay more for better internet service. Most respondents (81%) had also not applied to a program for internet accessibility, and only one-third (30%) were aware of these programs.

Living where reliable broadband infrastructure is missing is not just an availability barrier, but also a problem of affordability. Further stakeholder engagement by DHCD identified that rural, remote, and coastal regions where wired (e.g., fiber, cable) or reliable fixed wireless broadband does not exist. For many rural residents whose internet lines are not yet laid, the cost to pay a provider to install them is often too high. For others, what is provided is slow (e.g., DSL) or the only option is satellite which can be costly and – for older satellite technologies – is unreliable in inclement weather.

Those who have been digitally left behind frequently discuss the adverse socioeconomic effects of the digital divide. Low-income households experience the digital divide from the perspective of having already been left behind economically. Essentially, the lack of existing economic opportunity for this population creates a lack of digital opportunity in many ways. This is a clear example of how low-income households experience a negative feedback loop. A lack of socioeconomic opportunity begets a lack of digital opportunity, further reducing opportunities to improve their economic situation.

Virginia's Low-Cost Broadband Service Option

As required in the BEAD Notice of Funding Opportunity, subgrantees receiving BEAD funds to deploy broadband infrastructure are required to offer a “low-cost broadband service option” that is available to customers for the useful life of the network assets. DHCD defines a low-cost service option as the following:

• The service option is set at a price that is affordable to the eligible population, defined as those eligible for the Affordable Connectivity Program or its successor or within the range of $30.00 to $75.00. This range is based on a DHCD survey conducted of a collection of state-funded Virginia internet service providers regarding the lowest cost plan pricing option that they offer in state-funded broadband expansion award areas. The offerings for lowest cost plans during that time period ranged between $30.00 and $75.00.
• The applicant shall submit a justification for why such an option is affordable to the eligible population. The applicant may establish a low-cost service option below $30/month.
• The price identified, as well as the provisions identified below, for this service option will be a contractual requirement of awardees for the useful life of the network assets, which is defined as 10 years. This price shall be indexed to the Consumer Price Index, as outlined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, but shall not exceed an increase by four percent annually.
• Allows the end user to apply the Affordable Connectivity Program benefit subsidy to the service price and makes a demonstrable effort to inform prospective customers of these programs and the steps necessary to enroll and apply the benefit to the service plan.
• Consistently and reliably provides download speeds of at least 100 Mbps and typical 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.
• In the event the applicant later offers a low-cost plan with higher speeds downstream and/or upstream, permits Eligible Subscribers who are subscribed to a low-cost broadband service option to upgrade to the new low-cost offering at little to no cost.

While the Affordable Connectivity Program was active, the applicant was required to participate in ACP and was encouraged to ensure that prospective customers were aware of their participation in the ACP. DHCD states that the applicant is encouraged to participate in any successor broadband subsidy programs, as the Affordable Connectivity Program has ended.

DHCD used eligibility for the ACP to determine who qualifies for a low-cost broadband service option under BEAD. However, as the ACP is no longer active, DHCD will defer to NTIA clarification on how low-cost service option eligibility verification should occur.

Middle-Class Affordability Plans in Virginia

The affordability of broadband services from BEAD-funded networks for middle-class households is a priority for DHCD and is addressed by the following program elements:

BEAD Proposal Scoring Criteria

DHCD’s primary means of ensuring affordability is the weight of affordability in the scoring criteria established in this proposal. Affordability comprises 20 percent of the scoring criteria DHCD will use to evaluate proposals to serve a location under the BEAD program. Under the scoring criterion, the lowest total cost service package of gigabit symmetrical service will receive full credit. More expensive packages receive a percentage of points reflective of their percent distance from the lowest cost package.

Low-Cost Service Option

Providers participating in the BEAD program are required to offer eligible customers the Low-Cost Service Option defined in Virginia's proposal. Broadband service providers are encouraged to ensure that broadband services offered to prospective customers in the BEAD-awarded area are affordable and reasonably accessible to middle-class households.

Consideration of Special Construction Costs

For a subset of Virginians, broadband connections are not attainable because their home exceeds an internet service provider’s standard connection drop length from a roadway or easement containing telecommunications infrastructure. The cost incurred by homeowners to extend broadband infrastructure to these locations, referred to as special construction costs, ranges from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, depending on the distance and cost to connect the location. To account for this affordability barrier to connect to broadband networks, awardees will be prohibited from charging special construction charges for a minimum of twelve months after broadband service is made available to a BEAD-funded location. Awardees will not be permitted to charge any fees to subscribers for these line extensions, except for the regular connection fees associated with any connection made on the network.

Kicking off BEAD in Virginia

On October 1, 2024, DHCD launched its BEAD Letter of Intent window, which kicks off the BEAD application process.  The 60-day letter of intent phase will end on November 30, 2024, unless extended, and will be followed by a 90-day full application phase. Visit the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development website for more information and resources on the BEAD Program.

Additional Coverage on Virginia's Broadband Priorities

• Connectivity in the Commonwealth: Virginia's Plan
• American Rescue Plan Fuels Virginia's Universal Broadband Efforts

See the latest Virginia broadband news

More in this Series

• Louisiana's Plan for Affordable Broadband
• Pennsylvania's Plan for Affordable Broadband
• Washington State's Plan for Affordable Broadband
• The Kansas Affordability Plan
• Affordable Broadband for Nevada
• Will BEAD Networks Deliver Affordable Broadband for All in West Virginia?
• Delaware Wants to be the First State to Achieve Universal Broadband—Affordability is a Key Component
• Eliminating the Digital Divide in the District of Columbia Requires a Focus on Affordability
• A Plan to Bridge the Digital Divide in Colorado
• Ensuring All Hoosiers Have Reliable and Affordable Broadband
• Increasing Broadband Availability, Accessibility, and Affordability for the Benefit of All Utahns
• The Connection Between Affordability and Internet Adoption in Oregon
• Connecticut Working to Ensure Universal Broadband Availability, Affordability, and Accessibility
• How Maryland is Working to Make Broadband More Affordable
• Arizona Aims to Make the "6th C" More Affordable
• Illinois Committed to Changing the Broadband Affordability Picture
• Broadband Affordability is First and Foremost in Maine
• Universal Access to Affordable, Reliable Broadband in Kentucky
• Hawai'i is Working to Connect All to Affordable Broadband
• Equitable Access to Affordable Broadband in Wisconsin
• Connecting Massachusetts with Affordable Broadband
• Montana's Data-Driven Affordability Plans
• What We're Learning While Reading State Affordability Plans
• Connecting All Missourians to Affordable Broadband
• Balancing Access and Affordability in Rhode Island
• Ensuring Affordable Broadband for all Virginians
• Affordable Broadband is the Way to Improve Lives and Grow the Economy in Nebraska

Quick Bits

• Every State Identifies Broadband Affordability as Primary Barrier to Closing Digital Divide
• FCC Announces IPCS Annual Reporting and Certification Requirements
• FCC Offers Helene Survivors Discounted Phone & Broadband Service
• Sen Capito’s Rural Broadband Protection Act Unanimously Passes Senate

Weekend Reads

• FCC and U.S. Department of Education Release Cybersecurity Resource Guide
• Beyond connectivity: The role of broadband in rural economic growth and resilience
• How the 50 U.S. States Stack up in Broadband Speed Performance
• Where does BEAD stand three years in?

ICYMI from Benton

• A Better Way to Fund USF
• Broadband on the Ballot in North Carolina
• What the FTC Learned About Social Media
• Building Safety Into Digital Inclusion Efforts

Upcoming Events

Oct 9––This is only a Test: Understanding Experimental Licensing (FCC)

Oct 11––Digital Equity: The Future of Bridging the Digital Divide (AARP)

Oct 14-15––Michigan Broadband Summit (Merit)

Oct 15––2024 Maryland Statewide Digital Equity Summit

Oct 15––Task Force For Reviewing the Connectivity and Technology Needs of Precision Agriculture in the United States (FCC)

Oct 17––October 2024 Open Federal Communications Commission Meeting (FCC)

Oct 18––Disability Advisory Committee Meeting (FCC)

Oct 24––Broadband Data Collection Mobile Challenge Webinar (FCC)

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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