Providers Push for 'Permanent' Broadband Subsidies

A coalition including broadband heavyweights AT&T, Charter, Comcast and Verizon is asking Congress and President Joe Biden to build off the recent $3.2 billion Emergency Broadband Benefit and craft “a long-term federally-funded broadband benefit program that the [Federal Communications Commission] would manage and administer to provide low-income individuals with enhanced financial support for broadband long after the pandemic ends.” The ask harmonizes with lobbying objectives from AT&T, which has raised concerns about how the FCC funds its existing pot of subsidies via fees that hit traditional phone companies. The White House infrastructure plan notes that individual subsidies may make sense initially but that President Biden “believes continually providing subsidies to cover the cost of overpriced internet service is not the right long-term solution for consumers or taxpayers.” Some Democratic lawmakers are proposing another round of funding to bolster the Emergency Broadband Benefit program, and they will likely want to maintain some robust subsidy program at the FCC to help low-income households. And policymakers of both parties agree that the FCC subsidy model needs a rethink, which could fuel efforts for an overhaul.