Consumer advocacy organizations welcomed a draft order aimed at increasing awareness of and boosting enrollment in the FCC’s affordable connectivity program, highlighting the need for organizations on the ground to enroll hard to reach populations (see 2207150063). Commissioners during the agency’s meeting Friday will consider an outreach grant effort and a pilot program targeting households receiving federal housing assistance.
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.
The National Lifeline Association asked the FCC to grant its petition for reconsideration and clarification of the Wireline and Enforcement Bureaus' authority to suspend an affordable connectivity program provider's participation and marketing of connected devices, in a letter posted Tuesday in docket 21-450 (see 2206160071). NaLA noted there was no opposition to its petition and said the "unenthusiastic participation" among providers offering a connected device is "likely because of unnecessary regulatory hurdles that have been erected, including the market value provision addressed in the petition."
California could risk losing broadband funding if it grants a consumer group petition to require low-cost broadband plans for everyone, ISPs warned this week. The California Public Utilities Commission received responses Monday in docket R.20-09-001 on advocates’ petition to modify an April decision on rules for the state’s $2 billion last-mile federal funding account (FFA). Industry also clashed with consumer groups, in reply comments in docket R.20-02-008, on how California LifeLine subsidies interact with federal programs.
The cable industry is incorrect that applying affordability metrics in California Advanced Services Fund is inconsistent with CASF statutory directions, said the California Public Utilities Commission in a revised draft order Thursday in docket R.18-07-006. Responding to concerns raised by the California Cable and Telecommunications Association, the new draft said “consideration of affordability impacts is consistent with the stated goal of Pub. Util. Code Section 281 ‘to encourage deployment of high-quality advanced communications services to all Californians that will promote economic growth, job creation and the substantial social benefits of advanced information and communications technologies…’” The CPUC previously rejected CTIA’s argument that affordability metrics apply only to rate-regulated communications services, the draft said. Communications companies have resisted California affordability metrics (see 2207110030). The CPUC plans to vote on the proposed decision Aug. 4 after delaying the item that had first been scheduled for July 14. Meanwhile in docket R.20-023-008, Verizon’s Tracfone slammed a proposed decision to reduce California LifeLine subsidies when total federal monthly support applied to a LifeLine plan is more than $9.25. Other companies also raised concerns with the item that could get a vote Aug. 25 (see 2207280059). The CPUC draft “limits consumer choice and harms consumer affordability in a manner that is contrary to the” Moore Universal Telephone Service Act, a 2021 California law, said the wireless Lifeline provider: The draft “would prohibit low-income consumers from maximizing the full breadth of federal and state Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and LifeLine support that carriers would use to help design unlimited wireless connectivity offerings at no cost.”
Charter Communications, like Comcast (see 2207280035), saw its broadband growth slow to a halt between Q1 and Q2. Charter ended Q2 with 28.26 million residential broadband subscribers -- up 54,000 year over year but roughly flat from the previous quarter. The sputtering growth had some analysts bearish. The two companies' broadband news "had a decidedly 'end of an era' feel," MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett wrote investors.
The National Lifeline Association condemned a proposed decision by the California Public Utilities Commission to reduce California LifeLine subsidies when total federal monthly support applied to a LifeLine plan is more than $9.25. The CPUC may vote on the proposal at its Aug. 25 meeting (see 2207070048). The CPUC should reject the draft “and instead adopt an order that respects and empowers those needing vital broadband access by enabling them to combine California LifeLine, federal Lifeline and Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) benefits so that they may choose more robust service plans that are only made affordable through the combination of these benefits,” NaLA commented Wednesday in docket R.20-02-008. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act requires ACP providers to let households apply ACP to any internet service offered by providers, said the association: Under the draft, an ACP discount couldn’t be applied to a wireless service. CalTel and other small RLECs raised concerns that the proposal “overlooks the circumstances of rural providers.” The proposal’s “categorical exclusion of the [specific service amount] from plans that receive $25.48 in federal support is unsupported by the record and contrary to public policy,” they said. The CPUC proposal got support from The Utility Reform Network and Center for Accessible Technology, which jointly commented that the draft “discourages a profit windfall but facilitates robust plans for LifeLine subscribers.” The proposal doesn’t affect providers’ ability to comply with the FCC’s ACP order, the consumer groups said.
The Michigan Public Service Commission is preparing for telcos to opt out of the state Lifeline program later this year due to a 2020 state law. Providers may give customers 90 days' notice starting Aug. 30. “There’s always worries” about customers who may be using the state discount, but the number of customers receiving the discount is “very small and continuing to diminish pretty drastically,” and getting people enrolled in the FCC’s affordable connectivity program (ACP) could have bigger impact, Commissioner Tremaine Phillips told us last week at the NARUC meeting in San Diego.
Industry groups asked the FCC to streamline its rules for its annual data collection of subscription rates and plans offered through the affordable connectivity program (ACP). Some said the FCC should rely on the forthcoming broadband consumer labels and raised privacy concerns if data is collected at the subscriber level in comments posted Tuesday in docket 21-450.
Vice President Kamala Harris praised the FCC’s affordable connectivity program during an event Thursday in Charlotte and urged more people to enroll. NARUC passed a resolution Wednesday seeking more connections between the national verifier and state databases and urging state and federal agencies to collaborate on more outreach (see 2207200008). “We created this program because we know when we connect folks with high-speed internet, it is also a connection to opportunity … to live a healthier, happier and more prosperous life and importantly more affordable lives every month,” Harris said. ACP “saves working families over” $250 million. “About 13 million people are enrolled and these are students who can now study at their kitchen table instead of in the parking lot of a local fast-food restaurant, which is what so many of our students did, especially during the height of the” COVID-19 pandemic," she said: “The people who will benefit include parents who used to rely on their cellphone data plan to connect the whole family, which can be incredibly expensive. And now those families can stream and search and study on Wi-Fi” for free. “We need state and local governments to drive enrollment every way they know how” and “I know that” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) “is already hard at work on this front,” Harris said.
SAN DIEGO -- State utility regulators passed a resolution meant to increase affordable connectivity program (ACP) enrollment. The NARUC board adopted the resolution Wednesday after it cleared the Telecom Committee in a unanimous vote Tuesday at the association’s summer meeting. Intensifying economic factors make programs like ACP critical, said committee Chairman Tremaine Phillips in an interview.