Kentucky's vision of digital equity: "By 2034, Kentucky will be a place where every resident, regardless of their background or location, has equal access to affordable high-speed internet, reliable devices, and comprehensive training to pursue economic and personal opportunities." 

This vision, the Commonwealth of Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet (EWDC) believes, will lead to increased economic opportunity, educational outcomes, health outcomes, civil and social engagement, and efficient delivery of essential services for all Kentuckians.

The cost of a broadband subscription is a barrier to broadband adoption in Kentucky. Individuals who live in low-income households represent over a quarter of Kentucky's population (25.7% or 1,128,386 people). According to Kentuckians who attended EWDC listening tours across the state, 60 percent said that high costs were a barrier to subscribing to home internet. Due to limited financial resources, low-income households prioritized necessities like food and housing over the cost of a home broadband subscription. Additionally, a lack of information and understanding of affordable programs—such as the Federal Communications Commission's Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)—results in a reluctance to enroll in them.

Kentucky is working to remove barriers to digital adoption by creating opportunities through technology, affordable high-speed internet, and digital skills development for all people and businesses. The goal is to bridge the digital divide and ensure that each citizen can participate in the modern economy and society.

Kentucky's affordability strategy leaned heavily on promoting ACP participation by eligible residents and internet service providers (ISPs). Of course, the ACP expired earlier this year due to a lack of funding. Kentucky is also exploring other policy solutions and programs to support low- and no-cost internet subscriptions for eligible households. Part of that approach is adopting a Low-Cost Broadband Service Option and Middle-Class Affordability Plan as part of the state's implementation of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. Through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Kentucky will receive $1.1 billion to deploy affordable, high-speed internet to unserved and underserved locations. 

The Low-Cost Broadband Service Option in Kentucky

As required in the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's BEAD Notice of Funding Opportunity, subgrantees receiving BEAD funds to deploy broadband infrastructure in Kentucky are required to offer a “low-cost broadband service option” that is available to customers for the useful life of the network assets. The priority in establishing affordability requirements is to increase awareness of and enrollment in available broadband subsidy programs while maintaining flexibility given the diversity in size, territory, and service offerings of prospective BEAD subgrantees. The Kentucky Office of Broadband Development proposes this definition after considering how to best effectuate the affordability aims of both the BEAD program and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.  

1. Kentucky defines a Low-Cost Option broadband service as a plan that is $30 per month or less. All recurring fees include monthly subscription, Wi-Fi router or modem fees, and any taxes or surcharges applied. No charges for installation, repair or maintenance of qualified broadband service will be allowed.  

Kentucky's Office of Broadband Development recognizes that small and rural networks in areas with low population density or small service areas have fewer customers to support capital expenditures and may charge higher monthly fees than providers with higher subscriber counts and density in order to be financially sustainable. The Office will permit applicants and subgrantees to modify their low-cost service option from the $30 target rate as follows:  

• In no case may the rate exceed $65, which is 88 percent of the highest rate for comparable service plans in Kentucky as reflected in the 2024 FCC Urban Rate Survey.  

• The rate does not exceed the cost of an existing, designated low-income plan offered by the subgrantee in non-BEAD markets that is eligible for the ACP benefit, that meets, at a minimum, all other criteria below, including speed and latency requirements, and that is inclusive of all taxes, fees, and with no additional non-recurring costs or fees to the consumer;  

• Modifications to offered rates to a level between $30 and $65 may be granted based on evidence supporting the proposed rate:

  • Per-subscriber costs in an area indicating that the target effective rate above would be financially unsustainable; and/or

  • The impact on average revenue per user (ARPU) and total project revenue of the rate would be financially unsustainable given actual or projected subscriber adoption patterns.  

• If a modification request is granted, the new modified level shall remain the offered rate for the provider for the duration of the federal interest. The Office of Broadband Development may allow an annual adjustment of the rate once per year by the subgrantee based on the Consumer Price Index, as defined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, beginning with an adjustment in the first new calendar year after the date of Volume II approval.  

• The prospective subgrantee must submit to the Office of Broadband Development justification on why the service option is affordable to the eligible population, including market analysis that demonstrates clearly that the service option is reasonably affordable to the average ACP-eligible household. Failure to demonstrate that the low-cost service option is affordable may result in the Office of Broadband Development requiring additional information to be submitted to justify that the service option meets the requirement.  

2. Allows the end user to apply any ACP-successor 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.

3. Consistently and reliably provides download speeds of at least 100 Mbps, typical upload speeds of at least 20 Mbps, and typical latency measurements of no more than 100 milliseconds. 

4. 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.

5. In the event the subgrantee later offers a low-cost plan with higher speeds downstream and/or upstream, the subgrantee must permit 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.

6. The subgrantee is required to participate in the ACP or any ACP-successor program and the Office of Broadband Development encourages subgrantees to ensure that prospective customers are aware of the providers' participation in the program.

7. The low-cost broadband service option must be made available to those who qualify for the FCC’s ACP.  

8. The Kentucky Office of Broadband Development requires the low-cost broadband service option be available to all eligible prospective customers across the subgrantee’s service territory, including locations within the awarded project areas under the BEAD program.

Kentucky's Middle-Class Affordability Plan 

Affordability of broadband services offered over BEAD-funded networks to middle-class households is a priority for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

The Kentucky Office of Broadband Development's plan for middle-class BEAD affordability includes the following elements:  

1. BEAD Proposal Evaluation Scoring Criteria

Affordability is a primary criterion in the scoring rubric for Kentucky’s BEAD program. Affordability is assigned 30 percent of the points in evaluating proposals.

• For end-to-end fiber networks (called priority broadband projects), the prospective subgrantee’s commitment to provide the most affordable total price to the customer for 1 Gbps/1 Gbps (Gigabit symmetrical) service in the project area.
• For last-mile broadband projects using other technologies, the prospective subgrantee’s commitment to provide the most affordable total price to the customer for 100 Mbps/20 Mbps service in the project area.

Scoring: The Kentucky Office of Broadband Development will adopt the rate for the highest speed threshold plan listed in Kentucky by the Federal Communications Commission in the Urban Rate Survey as the standard to score prospective subgrantees’ highest speed threshold plan. Packages—inclusive of all taxes, fees, and charges billed to the customer—that are more expensive than this rate will receive no points. Packages set at the benchmark will receive partial points. Packages less expensive than the standard will receive maximum points.

The service option that the prospective subgrantee submits to the Office for scoring purposes must remain available for the useful life of the network assets which is defined as 10 years following project closeout.

This price may be indexed to the Consumer Price Index, as outlined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, but shall not exceed an increase fout percent annually. Prices cannot be introductory rates, subject to arbitrary cost escalation, or part of a bundle.  

2. Special Construction Costs

For some Kentucky residents, connecting to internet service is unaffordable because the distance to their home exceeds an internet service provider’s standard connection drop length from a roadway or easement containing telecommunications infrastructure. The costs incurred by homeowners to extend broadband infrastructure to these locations—referred to as special construction costs—range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars depending on the distance and cost to connect the location. BEAD subgrantees in Kentucky 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. Subgrantees will not be permitted to charge any fees to subscribers for these line extensions during the subgrant agreement period of performance, except for the regular connection fees associated with any connection made on the network. 

BEAD Applications

The NTIA approved Kentucky's BEAD Initial Proposal in June 2024. On August 14, the Kentucky Office of Broadband Development opened its Pre-Application process, serving as a pre-qualification process for prospective subgrantees. Through pre-applications, the Office of Broadband Development is collecting financial, technical, and managerial information common to all BEAD project applications. As part of this process, ISPs are asked to report how many ACP participants they served while the program was still active. Registration is currently open for the Kentucky Broadband Grants Management Portal. The window for pre-applications closes on September 13. 

Additional Coverage on Kentucky Broadband Priorities

• Kentucky Pursues Full and Equitable Digital Access for All
• Better Internet for a Better Kentucky

See the latest Kentucky 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
• 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

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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