Don’t Let the Affordable Connectivity Program Lapse Over the First-time Subscriber Fallacy

In a time when broadband affordability still plays a major role in the digital divide, the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) meets an obvious need. Roughly two years into the program, around 23 million households are enrolled for discounted broadband and a one-time device subsidy. We should be able to consider this case closed: We now have a strong, effective mechanism for closing the affordability gap. Indeed, ACP enjoys bipartisan support, and its virtues are extolled by industry and consumer advocates alike. But as the program’s initial funding winds down, some congressional Republicans are demanding more data before taking any action—particularly data on how many enrollees are first-time subscribers—and in doing so obstructing legislative agreement on a source of continued funding. The crux of the skeptics’ position is that absent substantive evidence that the majority of ACP recipients are first-time subscribers, the program is somehow failing and ineffective. Of course, we should want more transparency and clearer information about ACP’s effects and enrollees. But the ACP wasn’t meant to help only first-time subscribers get online, and cannot be evaluated on this basis. If the ACP is allowed to end, it will ensure any future broadband affordability initiative fights a potentially losing battle to regain trust. Holdouts should recognize that this is all much too steep a price to pay.