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Connecting to the internet is nearly essential these days. That’s why Congress has allocated billions of dollars to building out broadband networks across the country. Earlier this year, Maine was awarded $272 million to increase broadband capacity in the Pine Tree State. It is the largest investment in broadband that Maine has ever received.
While adding more networks and connections to existing networks is essential, access to broadband isn’t particularly helpful for people who can’t afford the monthly charges.
A federal program, the Affordable Connectivity Program, has been helping. However, that federal program is likely to run out of money early next year if Congress does not act to appropriate more funding.
Gov. Janet Mills is part of a coalition of 26 governors, Democrats and Republicans, that has called on Congress to devote additional funding to the connectivity program.
“The ACP is a critical complement to our collective efforts to expand access to broadband infrastructure in rural, unserved communities across the country,” the governors wrote in a Nov. 13 letter to U.S. House and Senate leaders. “
“The ACP plays a valuable role in helping households afford broadband and encouraging internet providers to build out rural broadband infrastructure,” the governors wrote.
The Affordable Connectivity Program, run by the Federal Communications Commission, provides a credit of up to $30 a month to pay for internet services for low-income families. Tribal members are eligible for up to $75 a month. The money goes directly to internet providers, many of which have committed to offering high-speed internet service for no more than $30 a month.
Eligibility is determined by income, which must be at below 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, or by qualifying a number of assistance programs, including Medicaid, WIC, SNAP, veterans pensions and Social Security Income.
Eligible households can also receive a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers.
About 230,000 people are eligible for the Affordability Connectivity Program, according to the governor’s office.
Just over 95,000 households in Maine have signed up for the benefit, according to FCC data. That means a lot of Maine people who are eligible for help with their internet expenses are not taking advantage of it.
Some likely reasons for the low signup rates is that the program had not been well known and it was hard to sign up. To address these problems, the FCC began outreach grants last spring. Four Maine organizations received a total of about $1.2 million to raise awareness of the ACP and to sign up eligible Mainers.
These outreach efforts are working. Last September, before the outreach, only 53,000 Mainers had signed up for the program. With outreach efforts, that number has nearly doubled in about seven months. Between 700 and 800 households now sign up for the ACP each week in Maine, according to the Maine Connectivity Authority.
With awareness of the financial assistance rising and growing efforts to help eligible people sign up, it is critical that the ACP remains funded and active to ensure that as many Americans as possible have affordable access to the internet.
