Affordable internet could end for millions of Americans this May
Roughly 23 million Americans benefit from the Affordable Connectivity Program but with funding exhausted and lacking an extension the ACP is winding down.
The Affordable Connectivity Program was set up over two years ago as part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Over that time tens of millions of Americans across the nation have received a monthly credit toward their internet bill to have access to “reliable, high-speed broadband at a price they can afford.”
Seventy percent of those had no or very limited internet access prior to the program according to the FCC which administers the ACP. However, the $14.2 billion initially made available for the ACP is running out and this month the agency will only be able to provide a partial discount in May.
Next month there will be no financial assistance to the more than 23 million households enrolled in the program unless Congress manages to pass an extension. There is a bipartisan push to do so, which has sufficient support to pass, but the chances of any legislation to extend funding for the program getting passed in-time is slim to none.
That will mean that millions of families could find that they can no longer afford high-speed internet service which has let them access telehealth, take part in online schooling, and apply for jobs online among the many benefits of being connected to today’s digital society. Of those that will be affected, nearly half will be military veterans, 10 million of those enrolled are people over 50 and one in four participating households are African American while another one in four are Latino according to the White House.
Broadband about to get very expensive for millions of Americans
More than 23 million Americans are currently enrolled in the program according to the FCC. April is the last month that these households will receive the full discount on their internet service. The FCC has said that participating “ACP households may receive a partial discount in May 2024.”
This means come June, if the $7 billion in proposed new funding isn’t passed, that beneficiaries will now have to foot the whole of their internet bill. The ACP has been providing eligible families a $30 monthly credit if their household income was below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Guideline. Some people living on Tribal lands were eligible to receive up to $75.
Many internet service providers, under pressure from the Biden administration, with the implementation of the ACP had rolled out cheaper plans for just $30 a month. That meant that some of those enrolled in the ACP were getting their internet access for free.
The White House is encouraging that those companies continue to offer low-cost and no-cost plans so the internet divide doesn’t grow as ACP recipients will have to decide whether they pay for internet, food or other necessities.
Cynthia George, a 71-year-old retiree who receives the monthly ACP credit, told CNN that she hunts for deals on groceries using the Publix app to help stretch her SNAP benefits “just a little further.” She tells her grandchildren, who joking call her “cheap,” that she’s “thrifty.”
“I don’t have any choice,” she said. “I have to account for every penny. And this would mean that that food bill would have to be cut down. There’s no place else I would be able to take it from.”