Federal internet subsidies near end

185,000 enrollees assisted in state

The Federal Communications Commission is winding down its 2021-created Affordable Connectivity Program, which gave an up-to-$30-a-month subsidy for broadband internet fees to households that made less than 200% of the federal poverty level.

More than 185,000 low-income Arkansas households were enrolled in the program in January, up from 74,379 households in January 2022. New enrollment has already stopped, and the FCC plans to send out the last subsidies in April.

The Affordable Connectivity Program originated during the federal government’s response to the covid pandemic during President Donald Trump’s administration and has continued through legislation President Joe Biden signed into law.

The FCC engaged with nonprofits to spread awareness of the program, said Jessica Denson, who manages communications for internet access advocacy group Connected Nation. The subsidy has basically functioned as a discount on bills: the FCC would reimburse internet service providers after subscribers enrolled in the program.

Congress did not appropriate more funding for the program during the last round of budget legislation that passed earlier this week. The wind-down is affecting nearly 20 million American households that met the income qualifications of less than $30,120 a year for a single person or $62,400 for a household of four.

“I think what’s going to happen is a lot of poor people are going to be surprised. Even though they’ve been putting the word out that it’s been winding down and Congress did not approve the funds, a lot of people are going to be surprised. Their bills are suddenly going to go up, and they’re going to have to cut it off,” Denson said.

“When you’re choosing between eating food or making sure that your kid has child care and having internet access, it’s going to be a very simple choice:

you’re going to cut off internet access. But then you’re cutting yourself off from being able to be home and work while taking care of your child. You’re going to be cutting yourself off from accessing cheaper goods online.”

New York University Stern School of Business research in 2021 found that Americans pay more on average for home internet than counterparts in the European Union, with observers pointing to the high cost of building out internet infrastructure in the U.S., where market forces drive expansion.

Other 2021 research from the Pew Charitable Trusts found that 14% of adults with a household income of less than $30,000 did not use the internet and that 43% of them did not have home broadband.

Research by the California Emerging Technology Fund, founded to support broadband infrastructure by the California Public Utilities Commission and the California State Legislature, found that 68% of surveyed Californians in 2021 said the price of home broadband access was among the reasons they didn’t have it, with around a third saying it was the biggest reason.

“Anyone who doesn’t have access, we think should have access,” Denson said in an interview. “I think the pandemic really proved that. Before, a lot of people, even journalists, would say, ‘Well, isn’t it a privilege or a luxury to have internet?’ And I think we’ve really learned the hard way, over those couple of years, that everybody really needs to have this access for work, to apply for a job, for their kids to go to school, to help senior citizens access a doctor or even just not be socially isolated — and at the very base level, to get government services.”

U.S. Sen. John Boozman of Rogers, who sits on the chamber’s Appropriations Committee, said in a statement that federal broadband investment in unserved areas continues to be a priority. “We have allocated significant resources to connecting consumers and we must continue building on these efforts to deliver access to rural citizens who currently do not have access to reliable internet service,” Boozman said.

As ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Boozman, a Republican, wants the next farm bill to make the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s ReConnect Program, which funds internet expansion into rural areas, permanent and to deliver broadband access to rural citizens without it.

Arkansas’ other congressional appropriator, U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, said in a statement, “I understand how important broadband access is for many Arkansans. The authorizing committees have made it clear that any additional funding for [Affordable Connectivity Program] will need to be paired with eligibility reforms to serve rural areas’ interests while efficiently using taxpayer dollars.”

Denson noted the Affordable Connectivity Program’s bipartisan roots and acknowledged that it has cost more than $12 billion since January 2022. The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which gave the program additional funding, contains tens of billions of dollars in grants to expand internet infrastructure.

“We’re getting all this money for that, but yet we can’t help those who are the poorest among us access it. That makes no sense,” she said.