Vermont state legislators could need to step in should the affordable connectivity program (ACP) end soon, the Vermont Community Broadband Board said last week. Losing the ACP would “remove the floor for low-income Vermonters, the most vulnerable of our residents, and require considerable alternative funding to achieve digital equity,” the board’s Executive Director Christine Hallquist said in a Thursday letter to Vermont legislators. The ACP helps 25,000 Vermont residents afford internet, the letter said. “When this program ends, many if not all these families may no longer be able to afford their internet service.” Hallquist noted the board supports a bill in Congress from Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., extending funding through the rest of the year (see 2401100056). But Congress hasn’t approved funding and ISPs are sending customers letters about the program’s possible end, Hallquist said. “We are nearing the time when State action may be required to ensure Vermonters do not suffer from the inaction of Congress. Whether this action requires a temporary, or a more permanent fix, remains to be seen.”
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.
Telephone and Data Systems and UScellular stock prices rose Friday after T-Mobile Chief Financial Officer Peter Osvaldik said his company was eyeing UScellular. The boards of TDS and UScellular are exploring the future of the carrier and “strategic alternatives," the companies said in August (see 2308070043). TDS was up 5.85% to $20.08 Friday, UScellular 3.26% to $46.51.
Peacock subscribers were up and residential broadband customers slightly down in Q4, Comcast said Friday as it announced its Q4 2023 results. In a call with analysts, President Mike Cavanagh said that while Comcast hopes to see renewed funding of the Affordable Connectivity Program, the company has begun communicating with its 1.4 million ACP participants and "will provide a range of options" if funding is discontinued. Revenue for the quarter was $31.3 billion, up 2.3% year over year, Comcast said. It added that during 2023, its network grew, passing an additional 1.1 million homes and businesses. It now has 62.5 million passings. Cavanagh said Comcast should be "at or above" that level in 2024. Comcast said it started rolling out multi-gig symmetrical speeds in some markets in Q4, and deployed mid-split technology to 35% of its footprint as of the end of the year as a route to faster broadband speeds. Chief Financial Officer Jason Armstrong said mid-split deployments should be across 50% of its network by year's end. Peacock ended the year with 31 million subscribers, adding 3 million in Q4, Comcast said. It said Peacock revenue for the quarter topped $1 billion, up 47%. Comcast ended the year with 29.7 million residential broadband subs, down slightly from 29.8 million in Q4 2022, and 6.6 million wireless lines, up from 5.3 million at 2022’s end. It ended Q4 with 14.1 million video subs, down 2 million year over year. Cavanagh said broadband competition "is likely to remain at these levels" for now; however, broadband remains "a very large, healthy and profitable market." LightShed’s Walt Piecyk posted on X that broadband subscriber trends aren’t likely to change soon, with revenue growth from price hikes instead. Asked about Comcast's participation in NTIA's broadband equity, access and deployment program, Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson said the company "plan[s] to participate where it is consistent with our business goals," but the BEAD process "is still in flux." He said Comcast is looking at wireless/broadband bundled packages as a route to further wireless growth.
Wireless carriers in comments this week condemned a “dynamic approach” to data and other proposals for California’s low-income program. The California Public Utilities Commission received feedback Wednesday on an Oct. 30 staff proposal for setting California LifeLine specific support amounts (SSA) and minimum service standards (MSS). Some urged the CPUC to tap the brakes, especially with uncertainty about continued funding for the federal affordable connectivity program (ACP).
The FCC will continue updating Congress about the affordable connectivity program's status in hopes of convincing lawmakers for money to keep it running, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told reporters Thursday after the commissioners’ open meeting (see 2401250064). The FCC expects the initiative will exhaust its $14.2 billion allocation in April. The Wireline Bureau said earlier this month it would freeze new enrollments Feb. 8 as part of the program's wind-down process (see 2401110072).
Industry officials are concerned about uncertainty surrounding the FCC's affordable connectivity program following the agency's recent announcement that ACP wind-down procedures were beginning and the ACP Extension Act was introduced (see 2401100056). Some warned about challenges associated with keeping the more than 22 million enrolled households online should the program end before additional funding is available. Even if the ACP Extension Act is successful, some observers predicted recipients may not return owing to reenrollment confusion or other issues.
Verizon Tuesday reported it added a net 318,000 consumer wireless postpaid phone customers in Q4, compared with just 41,000 a year ago. Verizon also saw 375,000 fixed wireless adds in the quarter, bringing its total to more than 3 million. Officials said Verizon is on track to hit as many as 5 million by the end of 2025. Verizon was the first of the major wireless carriers to report Q4 results. Verizon finished up 6.7% Tuesday at $42.23 per share.
Cable operators not providing 100/20 Mbps speeds and fixed wireless access operators will be among the broadband equity, access and deployment program's biggest beneficiaries, speakers said during a Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers/Light Reading webinar Thursday. In addition, installers and equipment providers can anticipate "a very busy [next] four years," Morgan Lewis communications lawyer Andrew Lipman said.
While the FCC received support for moving forward on a November proposal permitting schools and libraries to get E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless internet services (see 2311090028) many commenters raised questions. Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington dissented on an NPRM, questioning the proposal's legal underpinnings, and several comments agreed. The comments were filed the same week as the U.S. Supreme Court considered the Chevron doctrine's future and how strictly regulators must adhere to statutory language (see 2401170074).
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D), Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D), Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker (R) and more than 170 other U.S. cities' leaders urged House and Senate leaders Tuesday to “renew and extend” funding for the FCC’s affordable connectivity program, which is expected to exhaust its current $14.2 billion allocation in April. Last week, the FCC began initial steps to wind down ACP, with the Wireline Bureau declaring it would freeze new enrollments Feb. 8 (see 2401110072). Also, last week, a group of lawmakers filed the ACP Extension Act (HR-6929/S-3565) in a bid to infuse $7 billion for FY 2024 into the program (see 2401100056). ACP “has been a key tool in our efforts to eliminate the digital divide in America” since Congress first authorized it via the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and it “has wide support,” the U.S. Conference of Mayors said in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and their respective minority leaders. “From Democrats to Republicans, to rural and urban areas, to the telecommunications industry and all levels of government,” ACP “is recognized by all as successful.” Extending the program “will help close the digital divide, allow Americans to access the resources they need, and strengthen the U.S. economy to compete in the 21st Century,” the mayors said in the letter.