Lack of trained tradespeople and onerous permitting procedures could represent major challenges to broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program implementation, speakers said Tuesday at Incompas’ annual policy summit in Washington. The looming end of the affordable connectivity program (ACP) (see 2403040077) is a big wrench in the works of planned BEAD projects, said Evan Feinman, who leads NTIA's BEAD program. He said internet service providers are recalculating project costs, and many planned projects will go into the red as they receive less help covering their operating expenses.
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., voiced varying levels of optimism during a Tuesday Incompas conference (see 2403050052) about the prospects that lawmakers will be able to reach a deal on stopgap funding that will keep the FCC’s affordable connectivity program running past this spring. The FCC said in a Monday update on its wind-down of the program that it will be able to provide only “partial” reimbursements for ACP in May (see 2403040077). Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., highlighted their ongoing interest in enacting legislation to lift or ease permitting processes in a bid to streamline broadband deployments.
The FCC released additional guidance Monday for affordable connectivity program providers as it continues winding down the program. "Absent additional funding from Congress, the ACP can only provide a partial reimbursement for May 2024," said a public notice docket 21-450. ACP providers "have the option to claim and pass on that partial reimbursement amount to enrolled households," it said: "After May 2024, the ACP will no longer support any benefits to enrolled households." Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel urged lawmakers to fully fund the program, saying many enrolled households have contacted the commission with concerns about losing service.
AT&T is collaborating with the FCC and other regulators in the wake of the recent widespread wireless network outage (see 2402220058), AT&T Chief Operating Officer Jeff McElfresh said during a Morgan Stanley financial conference Monday. McElfresh also confirmed that the loss of affordable connectivity program (ACP) funding won’t be a major financial hit for the carrier, while AT&T is poised to gain connections through the broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program.
Numerous ISPs believe the affordable connectivity program's demise would give them a chance to snag subscribers from competitors. In earnings calls with analysts this quarter, many cable companies and telcos also told Wall Street they don't expect to take major hits to their subscriber base if the program ends (see 2311160076). The FCC said Monday that ACP funding will run out before the end of May (see 2403040077).
An all-but-certain bid by Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune (S.D.) to take over as the chamber’s top Republican from current Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) is throwing uncertainty into lobbyists’ expectations for who will hold the party's subpanel leadership role in the next Congress. In the House, some Republican contenders to replace term-limited Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta (Ohio) have emerged, but the race to be the party’s Commerce Committee leader and other factors continue to cloud the subpanel sweepstakes (see 2402290054).
More than two-thirds, or 68%, of households enrolled in the affordable connectivity program "had inconsistent or zero connectivity" before entering the program, according to an FCC survey released Thursday. The survey included data from a December poll of ACP households. It said 80% of ACP households cited affordability as the reason for their lack of connectivity before the program. More than three-quarters of household respondents said losing ACP benefits would cause them to change or cancel their internet service plan. “Thanks to today’s survey data, leaders making the decisions about ACP’s future know one thing for certain," Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel wrote in a note, ACP is "not nice-to-have, it’s need-to-have." Rosenworcel added: "We’ve come too far to turn back now."
A fresh stab at creating a state net neutrality law met industry opposition this week. Connecticut’s joint General Law Committee held a hearing Thursday on a wide-ranging bill (SB-3) that would also require affordable broadband, ban junk fees, require streaming TV prorating and let consumers repair electronics. The legislature’s consumer protection bill “addresses inequities,” said Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D).
Spreading high-speed internet will remain a key focus for the California Public Utilities Commission in the years ahead, CPUC President Alice Reynolds told Communications Daily during a wide-ranging Q&A. Reynolds addresses broadband funding, affordability issues, state USF and the FCC’s net neutrality rulemaking in written answers to our questions, lightly edited for length and clarity.
Sen. Joe Manchin told us Tuesday he supports Congress allocating funding for the FCC's affordable connectivity program (ACP). "The money's there," but congressional leaders must "get the bill on the floor," the West Virginia Democrat said after a speech at the NARUC meeting in Washington. Later, a NARUC panel said states should learn from Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) problems when setting rules for internet service providers to participate in the broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program.