Increasing accessibility to the internet and removing barriers to entry has never been more important. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government created a program to make bring online connectivity within reach for eligible households for whom it would otherwise be unaffordable, heavily subsidizing the cost of broadband service and the purchase price for devices that could help people connect to jobs, essential healthcare, virtual classrooms and more.
Since the onset of the pandemic, the program has evolved to address ongoing needs for online accessibility and to extend support to households who are in need.
Our guide provides an overview of those programs, an explanation of the eligibility requirements, how they protect consumers and what providers are participating.
The Emergency Broadband Benefit is a program of the Federal Communications Commission, designed to help families and households who are struggling to afford internet service during the Covid-19 pandemic. The purpose of this benefit is to connect eligible households to jobs, critical healthcare services, virtual classrooms and more essential services.
The EBB provides a discount of up to $50 per month towards broadband service for eligible households, which increases to $75 per month for households on qualifying Tribal lands. Eligible households can also receive a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer or tablet from participating providers if they meet the criteria of contributing greater than $10 and less than $50 towards the purchase price.
The Emergency Broadband Benefit is limited to one monthly service discount and one device discount per household.
President Biden’s $65 billion broadband plan was passed by the House of Representatives as part of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. While it’s not as big as Biden’s original broadband plan, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society called it “the largest US investment in broadband deployment ever.”
The biggest portion of the broadband spending is $42.45 billion for a Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program that would give subsidies to ISPs that build in unserved and underserved areas. Another $14.2 billion goes to an Affordable Connectivity Fund that is essentially a longer-term version of the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program created for the pandemic. Under the new version, subsidies for eligible households will be $30 a month instead of the original $50.
Another broadband provision gives $2.75 billion for digital equity grants to states to “facilitate the adoption of broadband by covered populations in order to provide educational and employment opportunities to those populations.” Grants can cover a variety of needs including training, broadband equipment, and “public access computing centers for covered populations through community anchor institutions.” Covered populations include low-income households, racial and ethnic minorities, rural residents, veterans, people with disabilities, people with language barriers, and people who are 60 or older.
There’s also $2 billion for broadband grants and loans distributed by the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service, $2 billion for Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program grants, $1 billion for middle-mile network grants, and $600 million in Private Activity Bonds for broadband projects.
“The bipartisan infrastructure deal will deliver $65 billion to help ensure that every American has access to reliable high-speed Internet through a historic investment in broadband infrastructure deployment,” the White House said Friday. “The legislation will also help lower prices for Internet service and help close the digital divide, so that more Americans can afford Internet access.”
The infrastructure bill was approved by the Senate in August, and Biden is expected to sign the final version soon
The Native Party Trust 