Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)

AT&T will pay a nearly $2.3 million fine under a settlement with the FCC for violations in the emergency broadband benefit program and affordable connectivity program. A Friday order said an Enforcement Bureau investigation found that AT&T sought and received funding for improperly enrolled non-subscriber benefit qualifying persons between "at least" May 2021 and December 2023. AT&T violated rules that require in-store sales personnel to obtain a representative accountability database identification number. The bureau also found that the ISP collected funds for subscribers who had not used their service for at least 45 days. Providers can receive reimbursement for "offering the ACP benefit when the subscriber has used the service at least once every 30 days or has cured their non-usage during a subsequent 15-day cure period."

The California Public Utilities Commission is mulling ways it can support broadband adoption in the wake of the federal affordable connectivity (ACP) program ending, Communications Division Director Rob Osborn said during the California Broadband Council’s meeting Tuesday. The state is making significant progress advancing its broadband-for-all goals, reported Scott Adams, deputy director of the California Department of Technology (CDT) broadband and digital literacy office.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., “remains supportive” of the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) “and believes Republicans and Democrats should come together on a robust spectrum package to ensure the U.S. has a competitive edge for 5G, while delivering affordable internet to American families and securing bipartisan national security and innovation priorities,” a spokesperson emailed. S-4207 would restore the FCC’s spectrum auction authority through Sept. 30, 2029, and provide a vehicle for allocating funding for the commission’s lapsed affordable connectivity program and other telecom priorities. Lead sponsor Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is eyeing potentially attaching the measure to an end-of-year package amid attempts to resurrect it after it repeatedly stalled earlier this year (see 2409170066). Schumer’s continued support for S-4207 is important because there was uncertainty about whether he would back a push to attach it to year-end legislation or pivot to prioritize a version of the Proper Leadership to Align Networks for Broadband Act (S-2238) that Senate Commerce amended in July to include funding for ACP and rip and replace (see 2408220041), lobbyists told us.

FCC Commissioners Nathan Simington and Geoffrey Starks warned the Mobile World Congress in Las Vegas that the FCC’s loss of general spectrum auction authority last year is hampering U.S. competitive efforts against major rivals in the 6G race. CTIA President Meredith Baker sounded a similar theme at the beginning of the conference, which CTIA sponsors with GSMA (see 2410080044).

Congressional Democratic leaders remain intent on attaching funding to restore the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program to a year-end legislative package (see 2409170066). Some lawmakers acknowledge the push faces long odds in what’s likely to be a fraught lame-duck session. Some ACP boosters believe Capitol Hill’s lame-duck dynamics could change depending on the outcome of the Nov. 5 election. GOP lawmakers aren’t enthusiastic about attaching ACP money to a legislative vehicle this year, in part citing their longstanding demand for a major overhaul of the program in conjunction with additional funding.

Tribal-area wireless provider Smith Bagley told the FCC the Navajo Nation this week adopted a legislative resolution supporting the carrier’s April request for a waiver of Lifeline rules. The provider asked the FCC to temporarily provide expanded monthly tribal Lifeline benefits of $25 to $65.75 to make up for the loss of funding following the expiration of the affordable connectivity program (see 2404080030). During the COVID-19 pandemic, Smith Bagley “added 100 Gigabytes of data each month for Tribal ACP customers to use while their Tribal lands were closed down and they were forced to stay home,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 11-42. Now that ACP has lapsed, Smith Bagley “can no longer provide the additional 100 Gigabytes of data to Tribal homes,” the filing said: “With minor adjustments, it has returned to its pre-COVID rate plans, which means that high data use customers must purchase additional bundles of data when needed.”

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr again took aim at how the Biden administration and NTIA have implemented the $42.5 billion broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, a concern Republicans on Capitol Hill have amplified (see 2409190063). BEAD is “a program worth fighting for,” but it must change, Carr said Friday during an American Enterprise Institute webinar.

Cost remains an obstacle for 1.7 million New York state households to get broadband, said a New York Department of Public Service staff report Tuesday. And the end of the federal affordable connectivity program and litigation over the FCC’s reclassification of broadband and New York’s Affordable Broadband Act (see 2409160031) have complicated efforts to connect them, staff said. “To alleviate that uncertainty,” the department included in the report a list of low-cost plans available from ISPs.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is eyeing attaching her Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) to an end-of-year package instead of pursuing another markup attempt before Congress recesses at the end of September for pre-election campaigning. She previously eyed a potential September markup of S-4207 (see 2408150039) in hopes of resurrecting the measure after it repeatedly stalled earlier this year. S-4207 would restore the FCC’s spectrum auction authority through Sept. 30, 2029, and provide a vehicle for allocating funding for the commission’s lapsed affordable connectivity program and other telecom priorities.

House Communications Subcommittee members traded partisan barbs about NTIA’s implementation of the $42.5 billion broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, as expected (see 2409040040). Republicans delivered most of the criticism, in part blasting NTIA for what they view as an unnecessarily long timeline for rolling out the money. House Commerce Committee panel GOP leaders launched a probe in July of NTIA’s BEAD-related communications with state broadband offices (see 2407090057). Democrats defended NTIA’s management of the program and blasted GOP lawmakers for obstructing recent broadband funding efforts.