Affordable Connectivity Program (was Emergency Broadband Benefit Program)

The digital divide in the American Southeast is no longer defined solely by the binary presence or absence of a connection; instead, it has evolved into a complex ecosystem of infrastructure quality, affordability, and digital literacy. This report delivers an exhaustive analysis of broadband access and connectivity trends within six disparate Local Education Agencies: Anniston City Schools (AL), Madison County School System (AL), McDuffie County School System (GA), Halifax County Schools (NC), Dorchester School District Four (SC), and Fayette County Public Schools (TN).

New Mexico is soliciting public comment as it prepares to roll out a statewide broadband affordability program. The program, dubbed the Low‑Income Telecommunications Assistance Program, is the first statewide initiative to offer a similar type of support as the Affordable Connectivity Program, which ran out of federal funding in 2024.

Home internet is so fundamental to daily life that it barely registers as a subscription anymore. Now, it’s an essential utility, on par with electricity and running water. Yet as household budgets remain stretched from years of elevated prices, a growing share of Americans are quietly straining under the weight of their monthly internet bill. However, this is one cost they cannot afford to cut. This report is based on a BroadbandNow survey of 954 U.S. adults conducted in March 2026, combined with our analysis of active plans from more than 2,100 internet providers.

From 2020 through 2024, Congress appropriated over $82 billion to programs across multiple agencies to expand broadband access. In a number of reports in recent years, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, Congress’s watchdog that investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars, recommended that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration better communicate the financial sustainability of broadband projects to Congress and improve collaboration with the other federal agencies that fund broadband deployment.

EchoStar subsidiary Dish Wireless agreed to pay $17,280,240 to settle government allegations that it fraudulently took money from federal programs designed to help low-income people get broadband services. The U.S.

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) delivered the keynote address at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society's Telecom at 30: Universal Service as the North Star event on March 5. In his remarks, Sen Markey highlighted three continuing gaps in universal service: broadband affordability, digital opportunity, and ensuring equal access to emerging technologies, like artificial intelligence. "The Telecommunications Act was grounded in a simple but powerful idea that communications policy should expand opportunity," said Sen Markey.

The end of the Affordability Connectivity Program and changes to the Digital Equity Act have made broadband bills a burden for needy families, and new solutions are needed. That’s according to a new report from Older Adults Technology Services organization within the American Association of Retired Persons, published February 26. Nearly a third of older Americans (32 percent) lacked fully wired broadband access at home, according to 2023 data, the AARP report pointed out, amounting to more than 19 million people.

Connectivity should be treated as an essential service, not used as a political tool. The biggest barrier to closing the digital divide today is affordability. We should be focused on making communications more affordable for families across the country to ensure that more people are connected and equipped with the tools they need to get a job, earn a living, receive an education, access healthcare, receive emergency services, and participate in civic life.

Affordability has emerged as a defining political issue of the moment, and broadband internet service affordability is no exception—especially with the expiration of low-income broadband subsidy programs such as the Affordable Connectivity Program in 2024. Policymakers and advocates frequently cite current broadband prices as evidence that affordability challenges are worsening, justifying calls for expanded subsidies and regulatory intervention. But are broadband prices actually rising?

In the first year of President Donald J. Trump’s second term, Secretary Lutnick has overseen a total transformation of the Department of Commerce. At the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA):