Blueprints for BEAD is a series of short notes and analysis on nuances of BEAD that might otherwise get lost in the volume of material published on this federal funding program. Click the “Blueprints for BEAD” tag at the bottom of this story for other posts.

Few people dispute the vital importance of affordability in closing the digital divide. A 2021 Pew Research Center survey found that nearly half of all people without broadband cited cost as a barrier, with 20 percent listing cost as the primary reason for not subscribing to broadband service.

Research from EducationSuperHighway pegged that number even higher, estimating that lack of affordability explained about two thirds of the remaining digital divide in the country.

As the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program steams ahead, questions about affordability have come to the fore. After all, deploying tens of thousands of miles of new fiber is only half the equation. BEAD will help build the physical networks necessary to connect the millions of households that still lack access to high-speed Internet service, but will it make a difference if they still can’t afford a plan? This possibility is all the more likely in light of the Affordability Connectivity Program’s (ACP) untimely demise.

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BEAD’s low-cost plan requirement sought to ease such concerns about affordability. To ensure households with limited financial means would actually see the benefits of the program’s massive infrastructure investment, this requirement mandated that all networks built using BEAD funds offer a low-cost plan for eligible subscribers.

Blueprints for BEAD is a series of short notes and analysis on nuances of BEAD that might otherwise get lost in the volume of material published on this federal funding program. Click the “Blueprints for BEAD” tag at the bottom of this story for other posts.

Few people dispute the vital importance of affordability in closing the digital divide. A 2021 Pew Research Center survey found that nearly half of all people without broadband cited cost as a barrier, with 20 percent listing cost as the primary reason for not subscribing to broadband service.

Research from EducationSuperHighway pegged that number even higher, estimating that lack of affordability explained about two thirds of the remaining digital divide in the country.

As the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program steams ahead, questions about affordability have come to the fore. After all, deploying tens of thousands of miles of new fiber is only half the equation. BEAD will help build the physical networks necessary to connect the millions of households that still lack access to high-speed Internet service, but will it make a difference if they still can’t afford a plan? This possibility is all the more likely in light of the Affordability Connectivity Program’s (ACP) untimely demise.

Image

BEAD’s low-cost plan requirement sought to ease such concerns about affordability. To ensure households with limited financial means would actually see the benefits of the program’s massive infrastructure investment, this requirement mandated that all networks built using BEAD funds offer a low-cost plan for eligible subscribers.

On July 24, 2024, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 9-7 that the Universal Service Fund is unconstitutional. 

The decision throws a whole raft of federal broadband programs - including those which help schools pay for connectivity, those which help homes pay for home Internet access, and more - into a state of uncertainty. 

All signs point to a stop at the Supreme Court for final ruling on the future of the program. On the most recent episode of the Connect This! Show, hosts Christopher Mitchell (ILSR) and Travis Carter (USI Fiber) were joined by regular guests Doug Dawson (CCG Consulting) and Kim McKinley (UTOPIA Fiber) as well as special guest Casey Lide (Keller and Heckman Law Firm) to talk about the decision. They discuss the impact of the decision in the long-term, including how the USF fits into the jigsaw puzzle of federal broadband funding programs and what we can expect to see if the decision is upheld. 

Watch the segment below.

Email us at [email protected] with feedback and ideas for the show.

Subscribe to the show using this feed or find it on the Connect This! page, and watch on LinkedIn, on YouTube Live, on Facebook live, or below.

On July 24, 2024, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 9-7 that the Universal Service Fund is unconstitutional. 

The decision throws a whole raft of federal broadband programs - including those which help schools pay for connectivity, those which help homes pay for home Internet access, and more - into a state of uncertainty. 

All signs point to a stop at the Supreme Court for final ruling on the future of the program. On the most recent episode of the Connect This! Show, hosts Christopher Mitchell (ILSR) and Travis Carter (USI Fiber) were joined by regular guests Doug Dawson (CCG Consulting) and Kim McKinley (UTOPIA Fiber) as well as special guest Casey Lide (Keller and Heckman Law Firm) to talk about the decision. They discuss the impact of the decision in the long-term, including how the USF fits into the jigsaw puzzle of federal broadband funding programs and what we can expect to see if the decision is upheld. 

Watch the segment below.

Email us at [email protected] with feedback and ideas for the show.

Subscribe to the show using this feed or find it on the Connect This! page, and watch on LinkedIn, on YouTube Live, on Facebook live, or below.

On July 24, 2024, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 9-7 that the Universal Service Fund is unconstitutional. 

The decision throws a whole raft of federal broadband programs - including those which help schools pay for connectivity, those which help homes pay for home Internet access, and more - into a state of uncertainty. 

All signs point to a stop at the Supreme Court for final ruling on the future of the program. On the most recent episode of the Connect This! Show, hosts Christopher Mitchell (ILSR) and Travis Carter (USI Fiber) were joined by regular guests Doug Dawson (CCG Consulting) and Kim McKinley (UTOPIA Fiber) as well as special guest Casey Lide (Keller and Heckman Law Firm) to talk about the decision. They discuss the impact of the decision in the long-term, including how the USF fits into the jigsaw puzzle of federal broadband funding programs and what we can expect to see if the decision is upheld. 

Watch the segment below.

Email us at [email protected] with feedback and ideas for the show.

Subscribe to the show using this feed or find it on the Connect This! page, and watch on LinkedIn, on YouTube Live, on Facebook live, or below.

On July 24, 2024, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 9-7 that the Universal Service Fund is unconstitutional. 

The decision throws a whole raft of federal broadband programs - including those which help schools pay for connectivity, those which help homes pay for home Internet access, and more - into a state of uncertainty. 

All signs point to a stop at the Supreme Court for final ruling on the future of the program. On the most recent episode of the Connect This! Show, hosts Christopher Mitchell (ILSR) and Travis Carter (USI Fiber) were joined by regular guests Doug Dawson (CCG Consulting) and Kim McKinley (UTOPIA Fiber) as well as special guest Casey Lide (Keller and Heckman Law Firm) to talk about the decision. They discuss the impact of the decision in the long-term, including how the USF fits into the jigsaw puzzle of federal broadband funding programs and what we can expect to see if the decision is upheld. 

Watch the segment below.

Email us at [email protected] with feedback and ideas for the show.

Subscribe to the show using this feed or find it on the Connect This! page, and watch on LinkedIn, on YouTube Live, on Facebook live, or below.

On July 24, 2024, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 9-7 that the Universal Service Fund is unconstitutional. 

The decision throws a whole raft of federal broadband programs - including those which help schools pay for connectivity, those which help homes pay for home Internet access, and more - into a state of uncertainty. 

All signs point to a stop at the Supreme Court for final ruling on the future of the program. On the most recent episode of the Connect This! Show, hosts Christopher Mitchell (ILSR) and Travis Carter (USI Fiber) were joined by regular guests Doug Dawson (CCG Consulting) and Kim McKinley (UTOPIA Fiber) as well as special guest Casey Lide (Keller and Heckman Law Firm) to talk about the decision. They discuss the impact of the decision in the long-term, including how the USF fits into the jigsaw puzzle of federal broadband funding programs and what we can expect to see if the decision is upheld. 

Watch the segment below.

Email us at [email protected] with feedback and ideas for the show.

Subscribe to the show using this feed or find it on the Connect This! page, and watch on LinkedIn, on YouTube Live, on Facebook live, or below.