Marginalized populations are those excluded from mainstream social, economic, educational, and/or cultural life. Examples of marginalized populations include, but are not limited to, groups excluded due to race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, physical ability, language, and/or immigration status.
(August 19, 2022)
Slowing growth in the market for telecommunications services appears to be putting additional pressure on network operators in the US. Mergers and acquisitions are on the rise. Layoffs appear to be accelerating.
On May 2, the Senate will hold a hearing on “The Future of Broadband Affordability.” The Affordability Connectivity Program (ACP) that provides subsidies for more than 20 million low-income households will expire in May. Without the extension, these families will see the cost of the internet service increase by up to $30 per month and prompt some families to drop internet service altogether.
Sen John Fetterman (D-PA) introduced the Promoting Affordable Connectivity Act which would sustainably fund the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) by removing it from the appropriations process and incorporating it into Universal Service Fund (USF) distribution. The ACP has provided discounts on internet service to more than 23 million households—including over 700,000 in Pennsylvania—that could not otherwise afford it.
More than 23 million low-income American households will soon see a new line item in monthly expense statements: prohibitively expensive internet bills. For some, the new cost will eat into other essential areas of their budget—for others, it will mean going without the internet altogether. While the federal price tag for monthly internet subsidies under the Affordable Connectivity Program comes to $8.4 billion annually, our research indicates that, for low-income communities, the economic impact of losing the ACP will be more than twice that.
May 1 begins the final month that Affordable Connectivity Program households will receive any benefit on their internet bills. Without Congressional action to extend funding for the program, millions of Americans will see their internet bills go up or lose internet access at the end of this month.
Elon Musk’s satellite internet service, Starlink, is expected to play a role in the Biden administration’s $42 billion program to bring high-speed internet to every American home, as Washington comes up against some hard math in its effort to build networks reaching the most remote corners of the nation. The growing discussion of using Starlink to fill in coverage gaps is an acknowledgment of just how expensive and challenging it would be to run new internet cables up every mountain and down every valley nationwide.
A group of bipartisan US senators and representatives have called for an additional $7 billion that would extend the Affordable Connectivity Program through the end of 2024. The White House has expressed support, but the proposal hasn’t yet advanced in Congress. In the meantime, some ISPs are offering short-term subsidies and new discount plans to try to support low-income households that were previously relying on ACP. First implemented in 2021, the ACP was part of a massive, $1.2 trillion Biden administration deal called the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is making once-in-a-generation investments in America’s infrastructure and our clean energy future that are creating good-paying and union jobs, establishing and growing new industries in the United States, tackling the climate crisis, and helping lower costs for families. To deploy these investments, the Biden-Harris Administration has taken aggressive action to accelerate project permitting and environmental reviews.
The ACCESS BROADBAND Act requires the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth (OICG) to submit to relevant congressional committees and publish on its website an annual report that contains a description of OICG’s work for the previous year and the number of U.S.
Connect Humanity, a non-profit impact investor, is collaborating with Microsoft to support high-speed internet access and adoption in underserved Appalachian communities. Connect Humanity’s IDEA Fund (Investing in Digital Equity Appalachia) plans to invest in community-focused internet service providers which are best placed to meet the digital needs of residents and businesses in Appalachia’s unserved areas. Connect Humanity aims to convene a diverse group of capital partners including Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), banks, impact investors, and foundations to meet th
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