FCC Releases Affordable Connectivity Program Rules

In this Order, the Federal Communications Commission adopts final rules for the Affordable Connectivity Program, which builds upon the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program (EBB Program), to offer eligible low-income households discounts off the cost of broadband service and connected devices. As part of the investment in broadband affordability, deployment and access in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Congress makes several changes to the EBB Program to transform it from an emergency program designed to respond to a public health crisis to a longer-term broadband affordability program, and appropriates to the FCC an additional $14.2 billion to implement those changes and support. Commission staff, in coordination with the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), the administrator of the EBB Program, prepared for the transition from the EBB Program to the Affordable Connectivity Program, and began accepting applications and enrollments for the Affordable Connectivity Program on December 31, 2021. To date, approximately 265,000 households have enrolled in the Affordable Connectivity Program and more than 9 million EBB Program households transitioned to the Affordable Connectivity Program and will continue to receive affordable broadband through this newly launched program.