ISPs Seek Affordable Connectivity Program Broadband Subsidy Transition Safe Harbor

Associations representing cable, telecom and wireless internet service providers (ISPs) have teamed up to ask the Federal Communications Commission to create a safe harbor for companies that want to enroll eligible consumers in the new Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) subsidy before the FCC has figured out just how to transition from the COVID-19-driven Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) subsidy to ACP under rules not yet hammered out. The ACP takes effect December 31; without a grace period between its launch and the FCC's implementing rules, which the FCC indicated won't be adopted until mid-January and probably won't become effective until sometime after that, uncertainty could discourage ISP participation. The associations are proposing a safe harbor between December 31 and whenever the ACP rules take effect, during which ISPs would be operating under the old EBB rules, with some modifications. Any ISPs that comply will be deemed in compliance with ACP.