The future of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is now at risk. Civil rights organizations have partnered with Congress, the Biden administration, internet service providers, and other stakeholders to spread the word about the ACP so that those who need it most are informed and can get connected. But the future of the ACP is not guaranteed. Congress needs to step up again and ensure adequate funding to continue the program. As more than 160 organizations have told policymakers, without action from Congress in 2023, millions of households could immediately lose service — and access to their daily, hybrid way of life. The loss of the ACP would also reduce the efficacy of Congress’ groundbreaking $42 billion investment in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. A recent study concluded that the ACP reduces the size of the subsidy needed to incentivize broadband deployment in rural areas by 25 percent. Simply put: The ACP makes BEAD program dollars go farther. On a bipartisan basis, Congress recognized — despite decades of digital discrimination — that we must all be connected if we want America to endure and prosper. But without adequate and sustained funding for the ACP, Congress will not be able to keep everyone online and meet its goal of universal deployment and adoption.

[Frank Nolan is the senior campaigns and programs associate at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.]

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s (IIJA) $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program holds out tremendous opportunity to close the broadband availability gap. To assist States and Territories and ACA Connects Members in seizing that opportunity, ACA Connects has once again joined with the business consulting firm Cartesian – this time to develop a framework for how each State and Territory can spend BEAD funds on fixed broadband – principally fiber -- projects to connect their unserved and underserved locations. Our framework includes both a national analysis and an analysis for each State where we use the latest data to estimate the number of unserved and underserved locations and the amount of BEAD funding that will be allocated to each jurisdiction, and then, using Cartesian’s proprietary and detailed model, we develop fixed broadband deployment scenarios using that funding and matching funds from providers. Version 3.0 uses the location-specific data from the Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Map released May 30, 2023, to determine funding allocations and network availability. This version also includes an analysis of how continued broadband deployment—using private capital as well as funding from other programs—will reduce the number of locations that require BEAD support.