FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel Highlights Affordable Connectivity Program Enrollment Freeze

I am writing to keep you updated regarding the status of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP).  I last wrote you on January 8, 2024 to explain that the remaining funding we have for the ACP—the largest and most successful broadband affordability program in our Nation’s history—is insufficient to support consumers who count on this program beyond April 2024.  My January 8, 2024 letter stressed that more funding is needed to keep the ACP in place, and that absent additional funding, the FCC would need to take steps to start orderly wind-down procedures for the ACP.   Accordingly, on January 11, 2024, the FCC issued guidance to ACP providers and other stakeholders to start the orderly procedures to wind-down the ACP.4  This guidance requires providers to send multiple written notices to ACP subscribers regarding the end of the program.  To this end, by January 25, 2024, providers were required to send their ACP subscribers the first notice about the end of the program and the potential impact on their bills.  As the wind down proceeds, households enrolled in the ACP will receive additional written notices from providers, as well as the Universal Service Administrative Company, with more detail about the end of the ACP and impact on their bill when the program ceases. The FCC’s January 11, 2024 guidance also announced that the ACP would stop accepting new enrollments on February 8, 2024.