According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), more than 23 million US households might be thrown off their internet connections by May or face increasing costs that require them to pay hundreds more per year to get online. According to Census Bureau population projections, the approaching calamity may touch roughly one in every five households across the country, or nearly 60 million Americans.
Such widespread disruptions in internet connectivity would hinder people’s ability to accomplish schoolwork, seek and do employment, visit their doctors virtually, buy medicines online, or connect to public services, widening the digital divide between haves and have-nots and potentially leading to economic instability on a massive scale.
The Affordable Connectivity Program is set to run out of funds by the end of April
The situation is tied to a vital government program that is set to run out of funds by the end of April. The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) offers qualifying low-income households discounts on internet service of up to $30 per month, or up to $75 per month for eligible tribal beneficiaries.
Lawmakers have been aware of the coming deadline for several months. However, Congress is nowhere near accepting the $6 billion that President Joe Biden claims would extend the ACP and save tens of millions of Americans.
This week, congressional leaders passed up what advocates say was the last, best legislative opportunity to fund the ACP: an 11th-hour budget compromise aimed at preventing a government shutdown. The draft language presented this week contains no funding for the program, raising the prospect of an emergency that may plunge millions into financial hardship only months before the key 2024 election.
With time running out for the ACP, the FCC has been obliged to begin winding down the program, halting new signups and informing customers that their benefits will be discontinued.
60 million Americans will have to make hard choices between paying for the internet or paying for household utilities
“Because of political gameplay, about 60 million Americans will have to make hard choices between paying for the internet or paying for food, rent, and other utilities, widening the digital divide in this country,” said Gigi Sohn, a former top FCC official. “It’s embarrassing that a popular, bipartisan program with support from nearly half of Congress will end because of politics, not policy.”
Without the assistance, low-income Americans would be priced out of home internet access. The fear of losing a vital link to the contemporary economy has ACP subscribers on edge. Military families, elderly Americans, and rural populations are especially at risk
The ACP has quickly gained traction since Congress established it in the bipartisan infrastructure bill of 2021. Surveys suggest that it is extremely popular among both political parties.
Military families make up about half of the ACP’s subscriber base, according to the White House and an outside survey commissioned by Comcast.
According to the same survey, more than a quarter of ACP users live in rural areas, with about four out of every ten enrolled households concentrated in the southern United States. As many as 65% of respondents stated they feared losing their jobs without the ACP; three out of four said they were concerned about losing online healthcare services; and more than 80% said they believed their children would lag academically.
Large sections of the ACP’s user base are getting older; Americans over 65 account for over 20% of the program. And up to ten million Americans who use the program are over the age of fifty.
ACP is the largest internet affordability program in US history
Congress allowed the ACP to receive an initial $14 billion in funding in 2021. That money has now reached nearly every congressional district in the country. It is the largest internet affordability program in US history, the government has said, describing it as working hand-in-glove with billions of dollars in new infrastructure spending.
Building high-speed internet lines is expensive, especially in areas that internet providers have typically neglected as unprofitable or difficult to access. Historically, this has resulted in millions of individuals receiving no or patchy service or paying exorbitant amounts just to receive a basic internet subscription.
Investing in infrastructure is the first step, but it is meaningless if Americans cannot afford the connectivity it delivers. So, the ACP helps bridge the price difference for customers while also benefiting internet providers, many of whom say the program ensures a base of demand to support building in otherwise money-losing markets.
“I can think of lots of examples where we’re boring under a river to get to two customers, and that was extremely costly,” said Gary Johnson, CEO and general manager of Paul Bunyan Communications, a Minnesota-based telecom cooperative serving some of the furthest reaches of the state. “To get fiber in the most rocky areas, we’re using a rock saw and we’re cutting, slicing a path through that rock so we can put our fiber cable in. The fact you’re dividing that [cost] over a very small number of customers? That’s ultimately challenging.”
According to a recent FCC study, more than half of rural respondents (47% overall) claimed the ACP was their first experience with home internet.