New Street Research: Charter has at least 4 million ACP subscribers

As the federal government plans to freeze new Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) enrollments next month, the broadband industry has started to think about how that will impact internet service providers and subscribers on the subsidy. New Street Research released a report evaluating the ACP’s impact on Charter. The firm estimated Charter has at least 4.1 million fixed broadband ACP subscribers. That figure is a “conservative” estimate, taken from Charter’s share of broadband passings. But when considering the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) data on ACP disbursements by operator (reported in March 2023), Charter could have as many as 4.8 million ACP subscribers. According to ACP enrollment data as of December 2023, approximately 9.9 million (45%) of ACP recipients use the subsidy for fixed broadband. The majority of consumers – around 12 million – use ACP for wireless service. Fixed wireless or satellite customers make up just under 1% (around 182,000) of ACP enrollees.