Low-income

We write in support of your ongoing focus on internet affordability as you work to administer the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program enacted in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.  For years, Democrats and Republicans expressed concern over the digital divide, and the $42 billion investment in the BEAD Program gives us a real opportunity to finally bridge this divide and connect every American to high-speed, reliable, and affordable internet.

On March 20, 2024, Next Century Cities (NCC) met with the Federal Communications Commission's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) staff regarding the Affordable Connectivity Program wind-down. NCC said the CGB must work closely with the Wireline Competition Bureau to craft wind-down guidance that ensures customers are protected. NCC also urged the Federal Communications Commission to require providers to disclose how a consumers bill will increase.

The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) required the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to adopt rules to prevent and eliminate digital discrimination in regard to access to broadband, and those rules went into effect on March 22.

In 2021, the Biden Administration and Congress passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that appropriated $14.2 billion to establish the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which has now helped over 23 million households sign up for discounted broadband internet. Unfortunately, the program is running low on funds and will stop providing full discounts in April unless Congress provides more funding. Congress has an opportunity to preserve this crucial program and maintain internet service for communities at risk of being left behind in the digital age. 

On March 21, Public Knowledge joined 24 other public interest and consumer advocacy groups in a letter to congressional leaders about the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). The groups urged Congress to renew the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) spectrum auction authority and use some of the projected revenue to help fund the ACP. "Congress has a unique opportunity to advance our national spectrum goals while simultaneously generating sufficient revenue to support the connectivity needs of millions of Americans," said the letter.

The Affordable Connectivity Program is ending and California has a monumental, once-in-a-generation opportunity to lead our communities into a new era of equitable affordable connectivity, not unlike the electrification of the United States in the early-to-mid 1900s. Internet affordability in California, like much of the country, relies on the goodwill of profit-driven Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and family enrollment in the federal Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), a subsidy program whose

According to a new report from the financial analysts at New Street Research, the US telecommunications industry stands to lose roughly $4 billion in market value–and $1.1 billion in revenues–if the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) ends.

Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY) led 158 of her colleagues in a bipartisan letter to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) urging them to work to preserve the Affordable Connectivity Program, which is set to begin running out of funds in April 2024. “We write today regarding the urgent need to preserve the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)," says the letter.

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) has proven to be a digital lifeline for its 23 million beneficiaries. However, although lawmakers have known for over a year that the fund would be bankrupt by this spring, GOP congressional leaders have not budged on even bipartisan attempts to save the ACP, prompting the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to announce in January the wind down the popular program. It’s a major setback for the “Internet for All” effort,