ACP Winding Down February 7, 2024
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced that ACP will “freeze” on February 7, 2024 at 8:59 PM Pacific Time (California Time) after which no new ACP enrollments will be accepted.
The last day the ACP will accept new applications and enrollments is February 7, 2024. Eligible households must be approved and enrolled with an ISP by 11:59pm ET on Feb 7th to receive the ACP benefit. Starting February 8, 2024, there will be no more enrollments into the ACP.
Households that are currently receiving a monthly ACP benefit will start to receive notices from their internet companies with information about the end of the ACP benefit starting January 2024. This information will include timing of the end of the program and the impact of the loss of the benefit on the household’s bill and service.
The FCC anticipates existing ACP funding to run out at the end of April 2024, with only a partial benefit available in May, if Congress does not provide additional funding. Households that are enrolled in ACP will continue to receive their benefit on internet service through April 2024. This date may change
Visit the FCC website for more information about the wind down of the Affordable Connectivity Program
The California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) and the Geographical Information Center at Chico State Enterprises (CSE) have worked to provide information on Affordable Connectivity enrollment and progress in California. This is also tracked by county and ZIP code. The Affordable Connectivity Program is a government benefit that helps households reduce the cost of their monthly home internet service.
The CETF is a non-profit organization and member of the California Broadband Council that supports greater access to affordable broadband. CSE is an affiliate of CSU Chico.
Households eligible and enrolled households
ACP eligible households
in California
eligible households
out of
households which is
Eligible California households enrolled in ACP
households enrolled
out of
households which is
Updated weekly on Monday evenings
Total Household Enrollment
| Name of county | Total households | Eligible households | Eligible households percentage | Enrolled households | Enrolled households percentage |
|---|
| Zip code/ area name | Total households | Eligible households | Eligible households percentage | Enrolled households | Enrolled households percentage |
|---|
Data and methodology
The data for this tracker was compiled by the California Emerging Technology Fund with assistance from the Geographical Information Center, Chico State Enterprises.
Methodology for Eligible Houses by County
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The eligible household numbers for the federal subsidy for Internet service were calculated by Hernan Galperin, Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Southern California, and his research team for the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB). Galperin is the Director of the Annenberg Research Network on International Communication (ARNIC) at the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism. Professor Galperin can be reached with questions at hgalperi@usc.edu.
EBB/ACP Participation Rate Calculation
Universal Services Administrative Co (USAC), which administers the Universal Service Fund under the direction of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), provides total EBB/ACP enrolled households at the county level. To calculate the EBB/ACP participation rate, this total is divided by the total EBB/ACP eligible households. To calculate EBB/ACP eligible households by county, Galperin’s team began by replicating USAC’s methodology, which relies on microdata (PUMA files) from the American Community Survey (ACS). Five variables are used to identify eligible households, four from the individual-level PUMA files (HINS4, PAP, SSIP, POVPIP) and one from the household-level PUMA files (FS). The variables are:
- HINS4: Medicaid, Medical Assistance, or any kind of government-assistance plan for those with low incomes or a disability
- PAP: Public assistance income over the past 12 months (any amount)
- SSIP: Supplemental Security Income over past 12 months (any amount)
- POVPIP: Poverty status indicating household income below the 135% (200% for ACP) poverty threshold
- FS: Yearly food stamp/Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients
However, a key difference in our calculations is that a household is considered eligible for EBB/ACP (as well as Lifeline) if any household member meets either of the eligibility criteria from the variables listed above. USAC’s eligibility calculations, by contrast, are based on the ACS responses from the householder (head of household) only. This is, however, inconsistent with program eligibility guidelines.
The household weight variable (WGTP) is used to estimate the total number of eligible households from the PUMA-level data. Group Quarters records (where residents live or stay in a group living arrangement that is owned or managed by an organization providing housing and/or services for the residents) are excluded from the calculations.
Once the total number of eligible households at the PUMA level is obtained, we use the data crosswalk from the Missouri Census Data Center to create eligibility estimates at the county level using the most recent population share weights (2016).
*County Data
USAC reports County Enrollment Information Quarterly. In the interim, monthly County information is an approximation using USAC Enrollment by zip code data.
**ZIP Code Data
The source file allows users to view the total enrolled Affordable Connectivity Program households across all states and territories by the full five-digit ZIP code. USAC has redacted any ZIP codes meeting the criteria developed by the FCC to protect subscriber privacy and to reduce the risk of identification of enrolled households. ZIP codes are excluded if their estimated population is below 50, if a population estimate for the ZIP code is not available in the American Community Survey, if there are fewer than 1,000 enrolled households in a ZIP code and those households comprise most of a ZIP code’s estimated population, or if the number of ACP enrolled households in a ZIP code equals or exceeds the population estimate range for that ZIP code. These redacted ZIP codes are collectively identified as “00000”.