US Tech Future

“Last week, enrollment for the Affordable Connectivity Program, which provides discounts to low-income households struggling to afford internet service, was forced to close due to congressional inaction and lack of funding. During the rollout of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Congress appropriated $14.2 billion for the ACP. The program goes hand in hand with the infrastructure bill’s $65 billion investment in updating and expanding high-speed broadband across the country, providing an incentive for internet service providers to build high-speed connections to previously underserved areas and helping to ensure that newly served households will be able to afford the service coming to them.”

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“According to a 2023 article in Forbes, 42 million Americans have no access to broadband. In our interconnected world, lack of broadband feeds the digital divide, and if you think that doesn’t affect you, well, you’re wrong. I am talking to you, the Midwestern farmer, the single mother of three in Chicago, the family-man rancher in Texas, the free-spirited woman in Vermont, the high-flying executive in New York, the hardworking immigrant in New Mexico, the coal miner in Kentucky, the snowbird in Florida, the artist in San Francisco and the homeowner in every American suburb.”

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“It is downright shocking that millions of low-income older adults, members of our one of our most vulnerable communities, will lose their broadband connection due to the uncertainty of funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program.  For older adults in financial need, the extension of funding for the ACP is critical. The federal program, which has enrolled 23 million low-income households to help subsidize the cost of broadband for low-income consumers over the past couple of years, is also now no longer accepting any new enrollments now that funding for the program is expected to run out this year. The Wall Street Journal just reported that this year, America will have the greatest number of people turning age 65 in U.S. history WSJ article. There will be a percentage of those entering this milestone who are low-income and lack access to broadband at home.  The ACP needs to continue to meet this ongoing need.”

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“Millions of households across rural America don’t have access to the high-speed internet necessary to fully participate in the modern economy, but the emergence of data center development in new areas to support artificial intelligence could play a key role in filling those gaps. Even as the rapid adoption of AI technologies makes the present feel increasingly like a future imagined in science fiction, the only internet available in many U.S. rural communities is decades out of date. One in five rural households lack access to broadband, according to the Federal Communications Commission, meaning that for large swaths of the country the internet means dial-up speeds over obsolete networks that can’t support ubiquitous applications like Zoom or streaming video.”

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“The University of Rochester Medical Center announced a first-of-its-kind initiative to improve health care access and wellness outcomes in rural communities in Upstate New York through the distribution of telehealth stations conveniently located at local bank branches. Woven into the fabric of rural towns, banks offer the ideal physical location to bridge the geographic divide between patients and providers, offering a vital touchpoint to reach an underserved population. To deliver care in a new way, the URMC initiative unites multiple partners, including Five Star Bank, the wholly owned community bank subsidiary of Financial Institutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISI); Higi, a consumer health engagement company and a service of Modivcare (NASDAQ: MODV); DexCare, Inc., a patient demand and care access platform; and Verizon Business.”

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“Today brings unfortunate news. Because of dwindling funds in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), the FCC has directed ISPs to stop accepting new customers under the program. It means that, for the moment, households otherwise eligible for ACP will be unable to sign up for the program. And, if Congress fails to appropriate new funds, the program will collapse possibly causing millions of families to lose broadband service they have come to rely on. We continue to be optimistic that Congress can still throw this valuable program a lifeline.”

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“As a grandmother to four children, I rely on the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) to keep me connected to my family. For four years, the program has allowed me to afford my internet bill. I use the internet to talk to my daughter in Maryland, to watch movies with my grandkids. I rely on the Affordable Connectivity Program for these little joys. But, if Congress doesn’t take action to renew the funding for the program, it is going to run out of money in April and I won’t be able to afford my internet bill anymore.”

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“No one ever thought that the extraordinary investment in families on the wrong side of digital opportunities would be winding down. And doing so at a time when more than 20 million eligible families have finally found affordable options to connect to remote work, distance learning, health care, and for greater connections to family members, and civil society. As of December 2023, 9.9 million participants of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) were using the $30.00 per month discount toward fixed, or home broadband; 12 million for wireless services; and just under one percent on something else, like fixed wireless or satellite, according to ACP enrollment data. But last month, in response to the lack of a congressional reallocation of money and with funds dwindling, Chairwomen Jessica Rosenworcel of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) penned a letter about the program’s fate and informed Congress that, on February 8, 2024, that the agency would start freezing new ACP enrollments. Meanwhile, states are steadily preparing to deploy federally subsidized, broadband deployments in areas that will be highly dependent on having subscribers for new and expanded assets. What the end of the ACP means for pending infrastructure, and the range of stakeholders from subscribers to community organizations has yet to be fully considered.”

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