Millions of low-income households and people who have lost their jobs over the past year could soon receive a $ 50 monthly allowance to help pay Internet bills. The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday approved a $ 3.2 billion plan to provide aid to help more households allow Internet access during the pandemic.
The program will be open to households already participating in a pandemic or low-income relief program that offers broadband service, as well as people who are already enrolled in the FCC’s Lifeline program for the low-income. income and to households with children receiving free or reduced price of school meals. In addition, the program will be open to people who have lost their jobs and reduced their incomes over the past year, the agency said.
Jessica Rosenworcel, the acting president of the FCC, said in a statement that the program would be open to eligible households in the next 60 days.
The program’s eligibility guidelines could also open the program to 117 million households that lost job income since March 13, when the pandemic shut down the economy, according to recent U.S. Census data. It is likely that some of these households have experienced a reduction in hours without losing their jobs.
Experts say the potential set of eligible families can quickly exceed program funding. Once the $ 3.2 billion is exhausted, the program will end, according to the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, a group that advocates for broadband access.
“There are two things to know about this program: one is that it’s okay to be in place and two is definitely not enough,” said Phillip Lovell, vice president of policy development and government relations at Alliance for Excellent Education, a non-profit organization that focuses on improving the educational outcomes of high school students.
A $ 12 billion broadband access gap
The education group estimates it would require between $ 7 billion and $ 12 billion to provide broadband access to the millions of children who currently do not have access, a problem that has worsened during the pandemic, as almost all schools have switched to online instruction. Approximately 17 million children are unable to log in to remote instruction due to the so-called “homework gap,” according to a July study by the Alliance for Excellent Education, the National Indian Education Association, the National Urban League and UnidosUS.
The FCC’s grant program is “a great victory for human rights,” said Dayton Young, product director of Fight for the Future, a group that advocates for Internet access.
But, Young added, it represents “the least relief we should provide to people across America struggling with the impact of COVID-19. No one should have to make a decision between buying groceries and paying for Internet access because their children can attend online classes and yet it is a decision that many people have been forced to make over the last year. ”
Rosenworcel, of the FCC, said the program is aimed at helping people who have had to sit in parking lots or outside a public library pick up a wifi signal, as well as freeing up household budgets that have been compressed by the economic impact of the pandemic. An analysis of Wall Street Journal Internet bills found that the average bill for standalone broadband service was about $ 66 a month.
The FCC program will also include a one-time discount of $ 100 on a computer or tablet for eligible households. The Internet service discount will be up to $ 75 a month for those living on tribal land.