Facing stagnant approval in Congress for more money for low-cost internet, President Joe Biden's government has reached an agreement with 14 companies for a program that will help 10 million households.
“The ISPs, many of which have a long history of providing low-cost internet, collectively cover up to 10 million ACP households and are voluntarily offering their existing ACP subscribers and other eligible households a high-quality internet plan for $30 per month,” the White House said in a statement. Documents distributed to the press: “Or less, without fees or data limits, until the end of 2024.”
ACP is the FCC's Affordable Connectivity Program whose funds expire this month, which will leave about 23 million households without internet.
At least 10 million of these families will be part of the program for Allo Fiber, Altafiber (Hawaiian Telcom), Astound Broadband, AT&T, Comcast, Cox, IdeaTek, Mediacom, MLGC, Optimum, Spectrum (Charter Communications), and Starry, a Verizon company and Vermont Telephone.
In October last year, the Biden administration sent a bill to Congress to approve $6 billion to continue the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific countries plan, but Republicans in the House of Representatives froze the plan.
This jeopardizes the low-cost internet program for low-income families, which receive $30 to $75 a month to pay for the service. Some companies agreed to continue with the low cost, but until the end of 2024.
“President Biden knows that even $30 is too much for some families, so he will continue to ask Congress to extend funding for the Affordable Call Program,” the White House said.
He added that a historic investment worth $90 billion is being implemented in infrastructure and high-speed internet support.
“The Administration has distributed nearly 30,000 connected devices to students and communities, including more than 3,600 through the Tribal Broadband Connect Program, to ensure tribal communities have the tools and resources they need to connect,” the Biden administration says.
The Middle Mile program, funded with $1 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure bill, is also being developed to build 12,000 miles of regional fiber networks, directly reducing the cost to homes and businesses, the report adds.
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