A plan for cutting regulations and federal institutions such as the FCC could target broadband access programs and media regulations, but it's likely that a wave of litigation will stymie it, administrative law professors and attorneys told us. Future Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) heads Vivek Ramasawamy and Space X CEO Elon Musk laid out their plans in a Wall Street Journal opinion column. “It's not to say that maybe some of these changes shouldn't be happening, but, you know, they're taking a wrecking ball to fix something that requires a little bit more finesse than that,” said University of Idaho law professor Linda Jellum. Asked about possible DOGE cuts at the FCC, incoming FCC Chairman Brendan Carr last week told reporters, “There's no question, there's tons of room for driving more efficiency at the FCC." He didn't elaborate.
Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)
What is the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)?
The Affordable Connectivity Program was a recently expired subsidy for low-income households to lower the cost of purchasing broadband internet and connected devices. The program was signed into law as part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and administered by the FCC up until June 1, 2024, due to expiration of the ACP’s funding.
Will the ACP Return?
Congress continues to debate restoring ACP funding, with immediate next steps likely to come from the Senate Commerce Committee or Congressional discussions on revising the Universal Service Fund.
Federal permitting problems could become notable impediments to BEAD deployment projects, Lukas Piertzak, NTIA senior broadband policy adviser, acknowledged Wednesday. Yet Piertzak also said a clawback of BEAD funding next year seems unlikely. BEAD, as well as NTIA's tribal connectivity and middle-mile programs, are perhaps insulated because of their bipartisan support not just from federal lawmakers but also governors and local officials, he added. Piertzak spoke during a panel discussion in T-Mobile's Washington office organized by ALLvanza, Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, LGBT Tech, and OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates.
Congressional GOP leaders are doubtful about lawmakers' chances of reaching a year-end deal on an additional $3.08 billion for the FCC's Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program even as some Democrats are softening their insistence that the funding move in tandem with stopgap money for the FCC's lapsed affordable connectivity program. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, Rep. August Pfluger of Texas and nine other Republicans wrote congressional leaders Monday to press for rip-and-replace funding in a bid to highlight the issue amid the lame-duck frenzy.
During a Thursday Incompas virtual event, communications industry lawyers offered few clues about which lawmakers will fill vacant top GOP slots on the House and Senate Communications subcommittees, but CEO Chip Pickering forecast substantial leadership continuity on both chambers’ Commerce committees. Pickering and lawyers who spoke at the event, meanwhile, saw limited prospects during the lame-duck session that Congress would advance a spectrum legislative package or funding for the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program and Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program.
Minus the end of the affordable connectivity program (ACP), EchoStar saw its wireless subscriber numbers growing in Q3, CEO Hamid Akhavan said Tuesday as the company announced Q3 financial results. EchoStar said it ended Q3 with 912,000 Hughesnet satellite broadband subscribers, and that it's adding subscribers as it offers high-speed unlimited data via its Jupiter 3 satellite. It finished the quarter with 7 million Boost wireless subscribers, and discounting ACP issues, it added 62,000 subscribers in Q3, it said. ACP-related subscriber churn crested in Q3, said Jeff Boggs, senior vice president-finance for EchoStar's Hughes. He said ACP should have significant impacts in Q4. Akhavan noted the proposed sale of Dish Network to DirecTV is expected to close in late 2025. If the DirecTV deal doesn't go through, then EchoStar still has "a path forward" using cash from other sources, he said. EchoStar ended Q3 with revenue of $3.9 billion, down from $4.1 billion in Q3 2023 due to fewer subscribers, it said. In addition, it ended Q3 with 8 million pay-TV subscribers -- 5.9 million Dish subscribers and 2.1 million Sling TV subscribers. It said its 5G voice service covers 208 million Americans, and it plans to expand coverage to Boston, Pittsburgh and Seattle in coming weeks, taking it to more than 216 million Americans covered by year's end. Akhavan said that while few devices were compatible with its terrestrial network at the start of the year, today it has a larger portfolio, including iPhones 15 and 16 and most Android devices. EchoStar expects it will notably grow its Boost Mobile market share in 2025. Asked about not joining the Mobile Satellite Services Association, Akhavan said it's largely a "spectrum availability partnership" and EchoStar's spectrum holdings are sufficient without needing to join.
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The NARUC Telecom Committee on Monday cleared draft resolutions on phone number conservation, the Universal Service Fund and utility coordination on broadband deployment. A USF panel that day described how reform could happen with Republicans controlling the FCC and Congress next year. Also, the affordable connectivity program (ACP) could return in 2025 despite Washington’s partisan climate, said Sanford Williams, deputy chief of staff for FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, during a collocated National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) meeting. State utility regulators are holding their annual meeting here this week.
Cable One saw slight broadband subscriber losses in Q3 owing to the end of the affordable connectivity program, it said Thursday as it announced results. The company said it ended Q3 with 960,000 broadband residential primary service units (PSU) -- flat from Q3 2023 -- and lost 5,300 subscribers in Q3 from ACP. If not for the ACP losses, it would have had 1,900 net additions for the quarter, it noted. Cable One said it ended Q3 with 112,000 video residential PSUs, down from 141,000 a year earlier; and 70,000 residential voice PSUs, compared to 82,000 a year earlier. Multiple cable operators saw ACP-related hits to their broadband numbers in Q3 (see 2411050006).
Altice USA and WideOpenWest (WOW) took Q3 hits to their broadband subscriber numbers from the June end of the affordable connectivity program, though both would have lost subscribers regardless of ACP, the companies said. Announcing results after the market's close Monday, WOW said it expected Q3 to mark the end of its ACP-related losses. Last week, Comcast and Charter said that if not for ACP losses, their Q3 broadband subscriber numbers would have been in the black (see 2410310013 and 2411010006).
If not for the end of the affordable connectivity program, Charter Communications would have added broadband subscribers in Q3, CEO Chris Winfrey said Friday as it announced Q3 results. Comcast said the same about its Q3 broadband losses Thursday (see 2410310013). Charter said it lost 113,000 residential internet customers in the quarter. CFO Jessica Fischer said it retained the vast majority of subscribers who were previously receiving an ACP benefit. She said Q4 will likely see 100,000 internet subscriber disconnects for non-pay, as well as some voluntary disconnects, with ACP's end factoring in both. After Q4, the one-time impact from the end of the ACP program should be completed. Winfrey said Charter saw "significant" initial impact from hurricanes Milton and Helene due to power outages and downed poles and trees. He said all but roughly 10,000 customers have had their service restored. He said Charter is restoring service in the Asheville, North Carolina, area and pockets of Tampa Bay. Fischer said Charter anticipates 400,000 new subsidized rural passings in 2024 -- 35% more than in 2023, but lower than its original 2024 plan of 450,000 as it moved construction labor to storm-damaged areas. Winfrey said Charter now offers symmetrical, multi-gigabit speeds in eight markets, including Cincinnati, Dallas, Louisville and Rochester, New York, and is broadly marketing it. Network upgrades to bring symmetrical multi-gig speeds to other markets will be done by year's end. He said Charter's network upgrade should be done in 2027. Charter ended Q3 with 28.2 million residential internet subscribers, down from 28.6 million year over year; 12.4 million residential video subscribers, down from 13.8 million; 5.9 million residential voice subscribers, down from 7 million; and 9.1 million residential mobile lines, up from 7 million. It had revenue of $13.8 billion for the most-recent quarter, up from $13.6 billion the same quarter a year prior. MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett wrote that going forward, Charter's broadband losses will be smaller "now that the worst of the ACP impact has been felt." He said fixed wireless access and fiber to the home competition also likely has peaked, "even if only slightly so."
With more than $1.8 billion in federal cash from the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program on the line, USTelecom asked the California Public Utilities Commission to reconsider its rules for implementing the state’s BEAD initial plan volume 2. In a rehearing application (docket R.23-02-016) posted Friday at the CPUC, the national ISP association said it “cannot stand by and risk the Commission’s adoption of a collective set of requirements that will severely limit participation in and the overall effectiveness of California’s BEAD Program.” The commission should deny USTelecom's application, a consumer advocate urged.