November 2025

Digital equity advocates warned that inconsistent federal financing threatened to erase broadband adoption gains, and urged Congress to replace the lapsed Affordable Connectivity Program with a stable, long-term consumer subsidy. Moderated by Revati Prasad, executive director of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, the panel said high monthly costs remained the main reason families lose or forgo internet service. Any replacement for the ACP must function as a permanent affordability support, not a short-term emergency program, argued Prasad.