When Will Affordable Connectivity Program Funding Run Out?

On June 24, 2022, I wrote an Op-Ed urging policymakers to fully fund the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). I predicted that funding for the ACP is likely to run out by mid-2024 and called for action at the state and federal levels to extend that funding. We’ve had some follow-up questions on how we came up with our projections. The four assumptions used to model our projections are as follows:

1. The rate of incremental ACP sign-ups (new enrollments per week);
2. The percentage ACP adoption of the 35.5 million income-eligible households living below the 200% poverty threshold (excludes other eligible households);
3. The percentage of Enhanced Tribal Benefit enrollment ($75 per month of subsidy) versus non-tribal enrollment ($30 per month of subsidy), and;
4. The percentage of households taking advantage of the one-time $100 device benefit.

Without any intervention, ACP funds will likely be exhausted by the middle of 2024. In the near term, state broadband offices should examine the total pool of federal broadband funds and allocate a portion of that funding towards extending the ACP for income eligible households in their states. In the longer term, Congress should find a solution to permanently fund the ACP program.