What impact will the Emergency Broadband Benefit have on broadband affordability? A pair of recent surveys shed some light on how much the program, which provides direct payments to broadband providers to help defray the costs of broadband service, could help with issues of broadband affordability.

According to bill pay service Doxo, the average household in the U.S. spends $116 per month on cable and internet — meaning that the EBB could cut consumers’ monthly bills nearly in half, saving them 43% per month and nearly $600 over the course of this year. Doxo reports that 82% of U.S. households pay cable and internet bills which add up to nearly $1,400 per year.

Broadband access advocacy group Broadband Now calculates a different figure for broadband alone: By its numbers, the average monthly cost for internet service in the U.S. is $68.38. Given that the EBB covers up to $50 per month of broadband costs and up to $75 on Tribal lands, that puts covers most, or even all, of the average monthly bill.

Broadband Now’s most recent report on U.S. broadband says that for the first time in the first quarter of this year, 77% of Americans had access to low-priced (less than $60 per month, excluding promotional pricing) broadband plans — up from 50% a year ago. The group considers broadband plans to have minimum speeds of 25/3 Mbps.

The Emergency Broadband Benefit Program makes available up to $3.2 billion to provide up to $50 per month for most households (up to $75 per month on Tribal lands) to subsidize the cost of broadband services. That money will be available until it runs out or until six months after the Department of Health and Human Services declares the pandemic over. Nearly 830 network service providers across the country are participating in the EBB program. It goes directly to providers, not to end users.

Tammy Parker, senior analyst at data and analytics company GlobalData, said that the EBB program “signals an emerging focus on broadband affordability rather than just accessibility. … In years past, the regulatory focus has largely been on expanding availability to bring unserved and underserved areas into the digital pipeline. However, COVID-19’s economic and societal impacts highlighted the economic inequities around broadband. Even when service is available, potential end users may not be able to pay for it.”

Program participants are also eligible for a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet (but not smartphones) from participating providers if they contribute between $10-$50 toward the purchase price. Households can qualify through their use of existing assistance programs such SNAP, Medicaid, Lifeline, free-or-reduced-price school meals or other programs, including if they are already eligible for a broadband provider’s existing relief program. The benefit is available to eligible new, prior, and existing customers of participating providers.

However, users have to know about the program in order to start using it. Data from TruConnect, which focuses on Lifeline and subsidized broadband services and is an EBB participating provider, claims that of the 33.5 million Americans who qualify for the existing Lifeline service for subsidized cellular and internet service, only 7.8 million are enrolled. TruConnect said that one of the biggest reasons for this is that many qualified households don’t get reached by marketing efforts and that there isn’t cross-marketing with existing programs — so if a household participates in a qualifying program, the members don’t get any information that there are other benefits that could help them.

Parker says that the EBB will benefit not only consumers, but also carriers — in that it will “keep cash-strapped customers on the broadband rolls and should also attract users who may or may not have had broadband subscriptions in the past.“

“Digital inclusion based upon broadband access is increasingly described as a civil right,” Parker added. “The government will continue pushing for wider broadband availability, with the caveat that it must be made affordable. Expect more calls for broadband price regulation and a renewed push for net neutrality, this time to smooth the path for universal service funding fees to expand broadband accessibility.”

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Categories affordability, digital divide, Policy