Due to the current dysfunction and gridlock in the U.S. Congress, the FCC's Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is ending in the United States due to a lack of approved funding. The ACP was announced by the FCC on December 31, 2021 and began qualifying subscribers in January of 2022. The program provided funding to offer $30 per month subsidies to eligible households across the United States, based on the total household income which varied by State and, $75 per month for eligible households located on tribal lands.
When the ACP ended on May 31, 2024, it had enrolled approximately 23 million eligible households. Estimates are that over 6 million households will unsubscribe due to affordability issues. Many of those households are families with children and many are marginalized households who for various reasons require internet connectivity for school, job searches and interacting with government institutions for benefits or health care. I believe this a tragic consequence of dysfunction in the United States Congress and in the program's design.
In Canada, things were designed and evolved very differently. The equivalent program here is called Connecting Families. Rogers began first, with a subsidized plan of its own called Connected for Success that was targeted towards rent geared to income in the GTA. Next, it was Telus who pitched the federal Government on a voluntary national program with a significantly expanded eligibility pool and enhanced service tiers that approximated or matched in market plans. I distinctly recall the early days and evolution of the uniquely "Canadian solution" because I was keenly interested in developing it along with others. All of this occurred long before the ACP was conceived or came into existence.
Thinking back, I believed the "Canadian solution" would be embraced by the political and bureaucratic classes as it was being subsidized entirely by the participating industry participants, was being offered without any strings attached to the Department of Industry for free and seemed a natural for their own partisan political gain [a combination that is usually powerfully intoxicating to the political classes]. In other words, they like free stuff and taking credit for it.
Alas, I was naive. The political pantomime being played out by politicians and special interests groups in Ottawa and elsewhere declaring a broadband affordability crisis, on a seemingly daily basis, did not inspire government actors to enthusiastically embrace the fully funded answer that was being offered to at least some of their complaints. Nor, I might add, did it even elicit a thank you or any acknowledgement for the industry's central role in developing the program. Going from Ministerial office to Ministerial office was mostly greeted with a symphony of slamming doors. I recall that many bureaucratic officials understood the uniqueness of the program, the value of the subsidies being offered and the potential efficacy of the program for the recipients. Unfortunately, there simply was no political will to proceed.
Rogers continued on its own, partnering with provincial and municipal public housing organizations and, Telus rolled out its own enhanced program in British Columbia, Alberta and Eastern Quebec partnering with various provincial and municipal agencies. In 2015, the leadership of the federal government changed political parties although the unhinged antipathy towards the industry did not. A few proponents of the "Canadian solution" kept the idea alive with whatever official would listen and by every means available in the hope that common sense would eventually prevail and that rolling out the program to eligible recipients could proceed without delay. How one judges delay is implicitly subjective, so it was with long awaited and eager anticipation in early June of 2018 that some of the industry backers and proponents were advised that the Minister of Industry would announce the program at the Telecom Summit in Toronto on June 7th, 2018. And so he did.
Today, the Connecting Families Program, [Ahem, ..a Government of Canada program...] facilitated and subsidized for all intents and purposes entirely by Canada's facilities-based telecom providers, ensures broadband equity for hundreds of thousands of low income and other marginalized Canadians. The federal program operates parallel to the standalone carrier programs that remain in place, due to its historical indifference to the problem. The carriers have expanded their affordable offerings to include mobile wireless and television services to even more marginalized Canadians. At the time of writing, 19 facilities-based providers deliver this benefit to eligible Canadians and as we contemplate the situation that currently prevails in the United States, we should collectively thank them all for devising and paying for this program. The "Canadian solution" is not reliant on Government funding. The "Canadian solution" owes no fealty to any Government actor. Those are its greatest strengths, but its greatest rewards are enjoyed usefully employed by hundreds of thousands of eligible and deserving Canadians.
In order to remind readers of what could have been had Canada's facilities-based providers not stepped up to devise the "Canadian solution", on July 26, 2024 Charter Communications announced that approximately 100,000 of its ACP subscribers had cancelled their service as the Government subsidy had ceased and hundreds of thousands more will do the same as other providers across the United States release their quarterly reports. If you are reading this and wondering whether you or someone you know qualifies you can find more information here, or by checking with your local provider:
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