Providers Winning CPF or BEAD Funding Must Support ACP, But ACP Could be Gone in 2024

Read the rules for broadband deployment programs such as the Capital Projects Fund (CPF) or Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program and you’ll see a requirement for service providers receiving funding to participate in the low-income Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). Yet the future of that program is uncertain. The program was given an infusion of $14.2 billion, which is expected to run out in 2024. That’s a big problem for the BEAD program, said Kathryn de Wit, Project Director for the Broadband Access Initiative at Pew Charitable Trusts. The US has set a goal of getting everyone in the country connected to affordable high-speed broadband and, according to Director de Wit, both BEAD and ACP are necessary to reach that goal. In addition, de Wit said, ACP eliminates the need for customers to repeatedly sign up and cancel service because they sometimes have trouble paying their bills. In other words, ACP “stabilizes and increases the revenue base” for providers, de Wit said. Without this stability, providers may not be willing to apply for CPF or BEAD funding or may need to scale back on anticipated matching funds, potentially threatening the ability of the programs to meet broadband deployment goals. Whether Congress will pass legislation to continue to fund the ACP or a successor program is unclear, particularly considering that the debt ceiling bill adopted several weeks ago contained various “clawbacks” on government funding programs. One possible solution that could be quickly implemented as a stopgap measure would be to direct unspent funding originally allocated for COVID relief efforts to the ACP program, de Wit said.