White House calls for ACP renewal at Connected America

On Day 2 of Connected America, a surprise guest took to the stage to issue a rallying cry for affordable connectivity across the USA. Austin Bonner, Deputy US CTO from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, warned that 23 million people stood to lose affordable connectivity if the Affordable Connectivity Program’s (ACP) funding is not renewed and urged a divided Congress to make additional funding a priority. Despite only around half of eligible households taking advantage of the program, funding is running out. Currently, the ACP’s last fully funded month is set to be April, with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issuing advice to affected households about finding alternative means of connectivity. Exactly where this newfound connectivity might come from, however, it unclear. New survey data from FCC showed that nearly half of ACP households had no broadband service or relied wholly on mobile connectivity prior to receiving ACP support.