Low-income

Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Board Chairman and Trustee Austin Hirsch announced that longtime Executive Director Adrianne B. Furniss will transition to Benton Senior Fellow and will be succeeded by the Institute’s current Vice President of Programs, Dr. Revati Prasad. Furniss will continue to manage the Institute’s programming in Illinois and advise Dr. Prasad for the rest of 2025. Dr. Prasad will assume leadership of the Benton Institute beginning May 1, 2025.

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Broadband Policy and Development (BPD) Office was created in 2023 with a commitment to addressing the internet infrastructure challenges in CNMI. Under this commitment, the CNMI BPD Office assumed the responsibility of spearheading CNMI's efforts to secure federal support, like the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Digital Equity Capacity Grant, and coordinate the effective utilization of broadband funding for residents.

The  Federal Communications Commission announced the E-Rate and Rural Health Care programs’ annual caps for funding year 2025. The adjusted amounts represent a 2.4 percent inflation-adjusted increase to both programs’ funding year 2024 annual caps. The E-Rate program funding cap for funding year 2025 is $5,058,637,966. The RHC program funding cap for funding year 2025 is $723,892,841.

Regardless of the final form it ends up taking, the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program is poised to play a key role in addressing rural connectivity. But the rural access divide isn’t the only issue we need to worry about, according to New Street Research Policy Analyst Blair Levin.

In November 2024, Nguyen Thi Que’s mobile phone suddenly stopped working as telecom companies in Vietnam permanently shut down the 2G network. “I thought of buying a new phone, but I don’t have money,” said the 73-year-old, who sells iced tea at a bus stop in Hanoi. Vietnam’s plan was simple: Offer free 4G feature phones to help low-income 2G consumers adapt to the change.

Congress established the BEAD program to ensure everyone, everywhere has access to high-quality broadband, with affordability as a top priority. This has become even more urgent following the end of the Affordable Connectivity Program last year, which left millions of households without essential support for education, career opportunities, and healthcare access. We must remain committed to prioritizing affordability and equal access. After all, BEAD without equity is just BAD.

SpaceX’s Starlink is dipping its toes into the affordable broadband market, with the launch of its “Residential Lite” service in 15 U.S. states. While it’s cheaper than Starlink’s standard residential plan, the move is hardly a gamechanger for rural broadband connectivity.

The House Communications and Technology Subcommittee met on March 5 in a hearing titled "Fixing Biden’s Broadband Blunder." Republicans on the panel seem most focused on concerns raised by states and broadband providers about the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. Established by Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the BEAD Program is distributing $42.45 billion to states to provide grants for last-mile deployment in unserved and underserved areas.

As congressional Republicans begin to fill in the details of President Donald Trump’s economic agenda, one proposal is expanded work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid.

New York's law requiring Internet service providers to offer broadband for $15 or $20 a month has spurred legislative efforts in other states to guarantee affordable service for people with low incomes.