Adoption

Earlier this year, a Benton Institute for Broadband & Society survey of low-income households found that 13 percent of Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) participants (approximately 3 million households) would disconnect their home internet service without the subsidy and 36 percent (or 8.3 million households) would downgrade to a cheaper or slower plan.

The PLAN for Broadband Act (S.

A new permanent broadband affordability benefit focused on unconnected households and funded by repurposing the Universal Service Fund's High Cost Programs as they expire can close the digital divide. 

To the dismay of other internet service providers, the three Fixed Wireless Access cellular carriers continued to perform well in the third quarter of 2024, and collectively picked up 913,000 net customers in the quarter, just 20,000 fewer than in the second quarter. The big cable companies continue to lose customers. However, both Comcast and Charter reported that they would have had small customer gains for the quarter except for losses due to the end of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). We’re liable to hear more about the impact of ACP with the year-end customer numbers. 

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced, in late October 2024, that Indiana would receive over $15 million through the Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program created by Congress through the Digital Equity Act.

The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed and continuing information collections, which help the Department assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public’s reporting burden.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) seems to hate many things about the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which Congress passed in 2021 with bipartisan support. Cruz’s hatred could presage rocky times for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program in 2025 because he is likely to head up the Senate Commerce Committee when Republicans take majority control of the Senate in January.

Through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Congress and the Biden Administration created the “Internet for All” Initiative, a $65 billion investment to ensure all Americans can access affordable, reliable, and high-speed internet. But with new leadership coming to the White House and the U.S. Senate in January, the promise of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act may not be realized. On November 21, 2024, incoming Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX), sent a pair of letters to the U.S.

The fate of the $8 billion Universal Service Fund (USF) now lies in the hands of the Supreme Court, which has the power to determine whether the subsidy program is unconstitutional. The legality issue concerns the Federal Communications Commission’s choice to delegate the administration of USF programs (Connect America Fund, Lifeline, E-Rate and Rural Health Care) to a private third party—the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). The Sixth and Eleventh Circuits have already ruled to uphold the constitutionality of the USF’s current funding mechanism.

The Commerce Department remains committed to economic growth and support for America’s Tribal communities because of President Biden’s leadership in addressing historic inequities. Over the past four years, the Biden-Harris Administration has demonstrated an unprecedented commitment to closing the digital divide in Native communities and signific