Internet service providers not required to list ACP on broadband labels—FCC

Service providers will not be required to list information related to the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) on their broadband labels, according to guidance issued by the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) on Monday. The guidance was issued in tandem with the FCC formally announcing that April will be the final month of full funding for the ACP. The untimely ending of the ACP has created a series of conundrums and unanswered questions. One of those was how broadband providers were supposed to handle a requirement to list whether they participate in the ACP on federally mandated consumer broadband labels. The ACP is set to run out of funds just as those labels debut. Both the ACP—which provides a $30/month broadband subsidy for over 23 million low-income households—and the FCC's required consumer broadband labels were established through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021, which contained $65 billion in broadband funding and related regulations around consumer protection.