Bygone subsidies helped lead to LA County’s broadband plan

Subsidies like the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) are unaffordable and set communities up for failure, according to Eric Sasaki, the manager of major programs at L.A. County’s internal services department. To address the digital divide in Los Angeles County, Sasaki said the county has chosen another path. “We were very flexible in terms of how we approached our model,” Sasaki said. Sasaki, who runs Los Angeles County’s community broadband initiative, said the track record of subsidies like the ACP provided lessons to learn from. LA County’s community broadband initiative, instead, was designed to accelerate digital equity by using public-private partnerships that can provide low-cost home internet access in areas where more than 20 percent of homes are without a broadband internet subscription.