FCC Commissioner Starks Remarks at INCOMPAS 2023 Policy Summit

With Affordable Connectivity Program enrollment picking up, we’ll need to address the longevity of the program’s funding before too long. We’re much better off addressing the issue quickly and with certainty—and there are three basic reasons why that is so. First, we must keep the millions of Americans who have signed up for the program secure in their access to broadband. Second, there are millions more who are eligible, and we need to get them signed up. Third, we need a secure ACP so that federal broadband infrastructure dollars go as far as possible and succeed in connecting every unserved and underserved home. ACP enrollees tend to be good customers with low churn, and they add significantly to the subscriber base of the network. That means the availability of ACP directly affects the revenue side of the equation and therefore the size of the funding gap that states will have to bridge.