Seeing the Impact of ACP

The Affordable Connectivity Program lapsed in May 2024. At the time the program ended, there were more than 13 million ACP recipients getting a discount on a cellphone plan and 10 million getting a discount on landline broadband. Charter had fully embraced ACP and was reported to have over half of the landline ACP participants. There were dire predictions at the end of the ACP that many millions of households would drop landline broadband since they could no longer afford it. I think it’s more likely that the results of the end of ACP will be more subtle, spread over time, and be harder to notice. While some homes likely dropped immediately, many have likely held on with one of the low-income alternatives offered by ISPs. Homes that find they can’t sustainably afford broadband will drop off over time and likely not make a noticeable ripple in the national subscribership numbers.