By Tim Marema
Daily Yonder
One out of every five of Kenton County households may have to pay more for internet access by the end of April because a federal program that supports affordable broadband for lower-income families is running out of money.
About 13,500 of Kenton County’s 67,400 households are currently receiving $30 a month from the federal Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), according to data from the Federal Communications Commission.
The ACP was established as part of the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 and was designed to help families improve broadband access at a time when school, work, health care and other services were increasingly moving online.
The FCC has announced that it will run out of funding for the program by the end of April because the legislation contained only a one-time appropriation. The agency stopped accepting new applications for the program in February.
Anna M. Gomez, the newest member of the Federal Communications Commission, said 23 million households in the United States will lose the benefit if the program lapses. In Kentucky, about 445,000 households are at risk of losing the benefit.
“Millions of households will be forced to make tough decisions on whether to pay for connectivity they need for work, school, or health care – or to put food on the table,” Gomez said in a video statement.
A bill to approve an additional $7 billion for ACP has been filed in the House and Senate. No Kentucky legislators are among the bipartisan group of 180 representatives and three senators who have co-sponsored the legislation.
To be eligible for the ACP, families must earn less than twice the federal poverty level or participate in other programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Medicaid.
The current federal poverty threshold is $31,200 for a family of four, so families of four earning under $62,400 annually were eligible for the program until the FCC stopped accepting new applications.
About 71 percent of Kenton County’s estimated 18,926 eligible households have signed up for ACP. Statewide, about 59 percent of eligible households are enrolled.
Sarah Melotte and Will Wright contributed reporting to this article. DailyYonder.com is an online news platform based in Whitesburg, Kentucky, that provides national rural news, analysis, and commentary.