Digital Equity/Digital Inclusion

Broadband champions can be the decisive factors in efforts to improve community connectivity. The work of broadband champions has been shaped by the particularities of their broadband contexts: the local political will, the existing providers, the topography, and the wide-ranging motivations and strategies. What they have in common is their dedication, which has proved to be crucial in helping their communities get high-speed broadband.

With the Federal Communications Commission's recent proposal to ban bulk billing arrangements in the multifamily industry, the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) has been hard at work to ensure policymakers understand the full impact on the multifamily broadband industry.

More than 1 in 5 households with an internet subscription in the US utilize the Affordable Connectivity Program, and it’s almost unanimously supported by voters: Polling from Public Opinion Strategies and RG Strategies shows that 78% of voters want to extend the ACP, including 64% of Republicans, 70% of independents and 95% of Democrats. A 

In celebration of Military Appreciation Month, Comcast NBCUniversal unveiled several initiatives to bolster support for veterans, service members, and military families. New and existing military-connected customers can enjoy our Xfinity Military Benefits. Comcast NBCUniversal continues its commitment to advancing digital equity for veterans, service members, and their families.

Prisons and jails generate billions of dollars each year by charging incarcerated people and their communities steep prices for phone calls, video calls, e-messaging, money transfers, and commissary purchases. A lot of that money 

Speaker Johnson, it is time to call a vote. In less than four weeks, over 23 million U.S.

The Affordable Connectivity Program is about to run out—and Congress is watching it happen. When the ACP was created in 2021 as part of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the $14.2 billion Congress allocated was expected to last five years. But demand for the benefit was so high that in January the Federal Communications Commission announced the program would be winding down at the end of April, after just three years.

Governor Bill Lee (R-TN) and Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) Commissioner Stuart McWhorter announced that Tennessee will award $162.7 million in broadband and digital opportunity grants. In total, these investments will provide broadband access and digital opportunity programs to more than 236,000 Tennesseans across 92 counties. With this announcement, TNECD has invested more than $715 million to expand the state’s broadband infrastructure, connecting more than 689,000 Tennesseans across 275,000 residential and business locations.

Without congressional action, funding for the Federal Communications Commission's Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) will expire at the end of May 2024. With this in mind, the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Media and Broadband convened a May 2 hearing on 'The Future of Broadband Affordability' to discuss congressional funding of U.S.

Some 23 million households receive broadband subsidies through the Affordable Connectivity Program, which is more than the number on food stamps. Households qualify if they earn 200% or less than the poverty line or participate in other welfare programs such as Medicaid. This includes relatively affluent households with public-school students in localities like New York City that provide universal free school meals. Broadband providers have said in recent earnings calls that they don’t expect to lose many subscribers once the program ends.