Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)

Verizon isn’t stressing about the November election, Sowmyanarayan Sampath, executive vice president and CEO of Verizon Consumer Group, said Wednesday at a Bank of America financial conference. Verizon has “a very strong track record of working with both the Democrats and the Republicans,” he said: “We know how to work with them to get better outcomes and connectivity for everyone.” Priorities for Verizon include a program like the expired affordable connectivity program and support for rural broadband, he said. Verizon is also focused on Communications Act Title II “reforms” and tax policy. The company had 1.1 million ACP customers, and 65% are now paying customers, Sampath said. He projected further growth in Verizon’s fixed wireless access offering, and expects the program to hit 4 million this quarter. “Very soon, we have to come back and explain how we grow the next tranche,” he said: “We have a lot more capacity. As they say, they build the church for Easter.” Sampath said the wireless industry will continue to add customers, partly as a result of “strong immigration,” which adds several million potential subscribers each year. Verizon is pleased with its prepaid position. “With our Tracfone acquisition, plus some of our brands that we put into the mix that were legacy Verizon, we have what is, I think, the best prepaid business in the market today.” He projected the carrier will have net positive prepaid adds this quarter, excluding any SafeLink ACP losses, after losing customers in recent quarters. Sampath declined to comment, in general, on media reports that Verizon is considering acquiring Frontier. “We like to own our own fiber assets for the most part,” he noted. New Street said Wednesday it views the reports as “credible.”

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- While some states hope to have enough broadband equity, access and deployment money to also tackle adoption and affordability issues, not just infrastructure, BEAD project costs may dash those hopes, according to Nokia's Lori Adams. Separately Tuesday at NATOA’s annual local government conference, Joanne Hovis, CTC Technology & Energy president, predicted growing concerns when it becomes clear Western states lack enough BEAD money to reach 100% of locations with adequate infrastructure. Speakers also discussed issues local governments face with small cell deployment permitting.

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Federal lawmakers from both parties back reforming the Universal Service Fund (USF), but whether that happens likely will depend on the November elections, speakers said Monday at NATOA’s annual local government conference. Localities will increasingly face broadband-only providers wanting right of way (ROW) access, and those cable competitors raise questions of whether they too should pay franchise fees, said localities lawyer Brian Grogan of Moss & Barnett.

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, latched on to a new Government Accountability Office report about the Universal Service Administrative Company’s handling of the Universal Service Fund to criticize the program’s spending and repeat his call for Congress to make USF subject to the federal appropriations process (see 2403060090). Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, meanwhile, told us earlier this month that Congress must prioritize a legislative fix for the USF contribution mechanism after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' recent ruling that the current funding factor is unconstitutional (see 2407240043).

Telecom lobbyists are closely watching whether Senate backers of the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) can secure a hoped-for September markup of the measure given recent efforts to move the Proper Leadership to Align Networks for Broadband Act (S-2238) as an alternative vehicle for funding the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program (see 2408150039). The Senate Commerce Committee in July adopted amendments to S-2238 that attached funding for ACP and the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (see 2407310048). Several observers pointed to a proxy fight about spectrum issues during Senate Commerce’s consideration of S-2238 as evidence negotiations on S-4207 are likely to remain fraught.

ASPEN -- Funding the Universal Service Fund (USF) through general appropriations might make sense on paper, but speaking practically it might not be a feasible goal for Congress, Democratic and Republican staffers said Tuesday.

Democratic National Convention delegates were expected to vote Monday night on the Democratic National Committee’s 2024 platform, which includes a pledge that promises the party will “keep fighting to reinstate” the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program. The draft program repeatedly references President Joe Biden and his now-ended reelection bid because the DNC Platform Committee adopted it July 16, before the incumbent stepped aside in favor of new nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, the committee said when it released the document Sunday night. “23 million households received free or monthly discounts” via ACP, “saving $30 to $75 per month on high-speed broadband through the largest internet affordability program in history,” the Democrats’ proposed platform said: The program lapsed “because Republicans refused to act.” ACP's supporters are tempering their expectations that Congress will act to restore the subsidy this year despite the Senate Commerce Committee successfully advancing a surprise amendment July 31 to the Proper Leadership to Align Networks for Broadband Act (S-2238) that would allocate $7 billion to the program for FY 2024 (see 2408090041). The DNC platform references the Biden administration’s implementation of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which included $65 billion for connectivity. “We’re bringing affordable, reliable, high-speed internet to every American household,” the platform said. “But a full 45 million of us still live in areas where there is no high-speed internet. Democrats are closing that divide.” Democrats are also “determined to strengthen data privacy,” through passage of a revamped “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights” and an update of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act “to protect personal electronic information and safeguard location information.” The document notes Democrats' continued push to “fundamentally reform” Communications Decency Act Section 230 and “ensure that platforms take responsibility for the content they share.” It also mentions Democrats’ interest in “promoting interoperability between tech services and platforms, allowing users to control and transfer their data, and preventing large platforms from giving their own products and services an unfair advantage in the marketplace.”

ASPEN -- Finding a way to restore the affordable connectivity program (ACP) is a high priority for the end of 2024 and social media-related advertising revenue could provide potential solutions, FCC Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez said Monday.

Don’t expect major daylight between a Kamala Harris administration and the Joe Biden White House on major communications policy issues, industry and policy experts predicted. Much focus and effort would center on defending the FCC's net neutrality and digital discrimination orders in the current federal circuit court challenges, as well as pursuing net neutrality rules, they said. Less clear would be the nature of the relationship between Harris' White House and Big Tech. The Harris campaign didn't comment. Deregulation and undoing net neutrality are considered high on the to-do list for the administration of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump if he's elected (see 2407110034).

Charter Communications agreed to charge $15 monthly for a low-income broadband plan in New York state under a settlement the Public Service Commission approved Thursday, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said Thursday. The New York PSC in its 2016 order approving the company’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable required Charter to sell a $14.99 monthly plan with at least 30 Mbps download speeds (see 1601270028). The New York Department of Public Service alleged that Charter violated the order when it increased the price to $24.99 for 50 Mbps without PSC approval. Under the settlement, Charter will provide 50 Mbps speeds for $15 monthly for four years to New Yorkers who participate in the National Free School Lunch Program or receive supplemental security income benefits. For years two through four, Charter may raise the price only to account for inflation. The settlement is important because the federal affordable connectivity program has expired and litigation has delayed New York state’s Affordable Broadband Act (see 2408130021), PSC Chair Rory Christian said in Hochul’s news release. “The only low-income broadband requirements that currently exist in New York are the low-income program conditions in the PSC’s orders approving certain mergers. By approving this settlement, the PSC will make affordable broadband available to eligible New Yorkers in Charter's service territory while the litigation is resolved and/or federal funding for ACP is reinstated or federal broadband policy is clarified.” Hochul applauded the news. “This settlement directly benefits thousands of low-income New York families.” A Charter spokesperson said the company's "prices and speeds are competitive and affordable" in urban, suburban and rural areas, with no modem fees, annual contracts or data caps.