Affordability/Cost/Price

Consumer groups are still very much concerned about what happens if TracFone gets acquired by Verizon even though Verizon promises to serve the public interest.

As another Covid-era school year begins, it’s not just local and state governments and internet providers that are desperate for broadband cash. A coalition representing schools and libraries is urging Congress to replenish funding for a Federal Communications Commission funding program aimed at boosting connectivity for students, school staff and library patrons.

The strongly bipartisan infrastructure bill provides $65 billion to bring quality, affordable broadband networks to communities – especially those in rural America – that for too long have struggled to thrive without modern high-speed internet. When I first came to the Senate, a top priority of mine was to increase access to broadband. It’s a 21st Century necessity for communities working to attract families and businesses, and to create jobs and economic development.

The Federal Communications Commission has received requests for $5.137 billion to fund 9.1 million connected devices and 5.4 million broadband connections as part of the $7.17 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund Program.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in our country, millions of Americans cannot connect to the internet because they can’t afford to, preventing them from going to school, working, accessing government benefits and connecting with friends and family. To remedy this problem, Congress created the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB), which offers low-income consumers a $50 discount on their internet bills.

Governor Larry Hogan (R-MD) announced the launch of Connect Maryland, a transformative new initiative to bring Maryland's total investments in broadband to $400 million.

As the House debates taking up the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure deal in tandem with Democrats’ partisan spending plan, lawmakers who work on telecommunications and technology issues used Aug 23's House Rules Committee hearing to outline their specific grievances with how Senate negotiators structured the $65 billion in broadband funding —complaints that are likely to pop up in other forms later this Congress. House Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ) told the Rules Co

Of the $65 billion that the infrastructure bill allocates for broadband projects, $14.20 billion is set aside for the establishment of the Affordable Connectivity Fund. The fund is an extension and reworking of the existing $3.2 billion Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) Program, a subsidy program established during the pandemic to help low-income households and Americans laid off during the pandemic stay connected to the internet. While the EBB was seen as temporary, the new fund is seen as more indefinite.

Many people with Internet problems are wondering how much of a dent the infrastructure bill's $65 billion for broadband will put into the digital divide. The bill's broadband section features $42 billion in grants to states for broadband infrastructure and about $14 billion to extend the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) for low-income citizens.

In August 2012, the Irish government published a National Broadband Plan (NBP) which set a target of a minimum 30 Mbps download speed for all households in the country. The expected overall cost of the original plan was €350 million, with the government stating that it would contribute half of this amount along with the private sector. By 2020, these ambitious targets had not been met. After a protracted and controversial procurement process, the cost of government subsidy for the NBP had escalated to between €2.2bn and €2.9bn and the plan will not be completed until at least 2026.