SAN FRANCISCO, CA — December 4, 2024 — EducationSuperHighway, the national non-profit with a mission to close the broadband affordability gap, today released a new report outlining recommendations for a cost-neutral permanent broadband affordability program focused on 16.3 million U.S. households that have access to the internet but cannot afford to connect.
Highlighting broadband affordability as the primary barrier to closing the digital divide, the report urges Congress and the incoming Trump Administration to create a new affordability program without taxpayer burden by repurposing funding from expiring High Cost Programs as a first step toward modernizing the Universal Service Fund (USF).
Home broadband is critical to full participation in modern life, connecting households to education, jobs, and essential services like telehealth and banking. Yet millions of working-class families are struggling with rising costs and have been forced to choose between connectivity and other household priorities. The report provides a detailed plan for creating a new monthly broadband affordability benefit targeted toward those who truly need it and recommends that the program should be:
- Focused on 16.3 million unconnected households and 3 million likely to be disconnected, ensuring the benefit is a tool that provides a high-speed connection or prevents disconnection when financial circumstances change.
- Paid for by repurposing Universal Service Fund (USF) High Cost Program funds as they expire. This revenue-neutral approach covers 100% of the cost of the broadband affordability benefit.
- Applicable only to entry-level home broadband plans, providing households with the high-speed connection needed to get an entire family online for remote work, education, and telehealth services. To avoid duplicative spending, the Lifeline program should remain the primary program for supporting mobile service and connections outside the home.
- Limited to broadband plans at or below the $30 subsidy price (or $75 on qualifying Tribal lands or in High Cost rural areas) to harness market forces by acknowledging that households already subscribed to advanced broadband plans are financially capable of maintaining a connection without support.
“The election sent a clear message that working-class families are struggling to make ends meet and looking to leaders in Washington for answers,” said Evan Marwell, CEO of EducationSuperHighway. “Our report provides a blueprint for Congress and the new Administration to maximize the impact of historic broadband investments and ease the pressure on household budgets without additional tax burdens on the American people. A new permanent broadband affordability benefit focused on unconnected households and funded by savings from the Universal Service Fund should be a priority for the new Congress.”
Immediate Relief for Working-class Families
The report outlines how repurposing funding from expiring High Cost Programs offers a revenue-neutral approach that does not raise the USF ceiling, enables all High Cost Programs to deliver on their existing commitments, and provides sufficient funding to cover 100% of the cost of a new affordability benefit. Creating the new program within the USF also removes the need for future appropriations and additional government funding, which can be destabilizing for working-class households managing tight budgets.
As states prepare to make the most significant broadband investments in history using their share of the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD), the report also highlights the immediate need for a new affordability solution to ensure households can afford the new networks BEAD provides. Changing eligibility criteria to focus on unconnected households provides annual savings of $4.6 billion compared with the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which expired earlier this year. EducationSuperHighway says its proposal can also be implemented quickly while Congress continues to work on broader USF reform, meaning households cut off by the expiration of the ACP can get back online, and states that included the ACP as a tool for addressing broadband affordability in their BEAD and Digital Equity Act plans have a viable alternative.
Read the full report here.
ENDS
