A new government program aims to encourage Internet service providers (ISPs) to offer lower rates to low-income customers by distributing federal funds through states. The only problem is that ISPs don’t want to offer the proposed rates.
The agency obtained a letter sent to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo signed by more than 30 broadband industry trade groups, including ACA Connects and the Fiber Broadband Association, as well as several state organizations. The letter raises “both a sense of alarm and urgency” about their ability to participate in the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. The newly created BEAD program provides more than $42 billion in federal funds to “expand access to high-speed Internet by funding planning, infrastructure, deployment and adoption programs” in states across the country, according to the agency. (NTIA).
The money goes first to NTIA and then is distributed to states after they get NTIA approval by presenting a low-cost broadband Internet option. The ISPs’ letter says a flat rate of $30 per month for broadband Internet access is “completely disconnected from the economic realities of deploying and operating networks in the most expensive and hard-to-reach areas.”
The letter urges NTIA to review the low-cost service option rate proposed or approved to date. have completed all phases of the BEAD program.
Americans pay an average of $89 per month for internet access. New Jersey has the highest average bill, at $126 per month, according to a survey by . A 2021 study by found that 57% of households with annual incomes of $30,000 or less have broadband.