Benton Institute Cheers Broadband Affordability Win in New York

This decision upholds an important tool for broadband deployment as well as an important principle. Low-income Americans need broadband just as much as all other consumers. Broadband gives all of us access to education, healthcare, government services, employment opportunities, and the information necessary to participate in civic discourse and to vote wisely. Today’s decision holds that FCC regulations do not interfere with the states’ ability to ensure that their residents have affordable access. The success of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), the national $30 per month broadband subsidy provided by the 2021 infrastructure law, demonstrates the importance of providing affordable access. Unfortunately, even though ACP has been so successful that it has exhausted its original appropriation more quickly than expected, Congress has failed to replenish it, and the subsidies will end in a few weeks. This decision provides a roadmap for other states to follow to join New York in doing what the federal government has thus fair failed to do.