Breezeline, LICT Corporation, and Colorado operator NextLight are the latest broadband providers to offer an alternative to the federal government’s Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which offered a $30 per month discount on internet service to low-income households and was terminated last month.
The new programs from these companies offer discounted service to low-income households that were on the ACP and in two cases offer the lower-cost service to new households that meet the income eligibility requirements.
Breezeline, which offers broadband service in communities around the country, is offering heavily discounted plans to former ACP subscribers. Eligible households can receive Breezeline’s 50Mbps service for $9.99 per month or 100Mbps for $29.99 per month, and service will include rental of a modem. Breezeline will also offer these discounted services to new households that qualify for the income requirements originally set by the ACP.
NextLight is a department of the City of Longmont, Colorado. They introduced their Internet Assistance Program last month, which offers a $25 per month discount to eligible subscribers.
As of mid-June, NextLight’s new program is serving 926 subscribers—20 more than were receiving ACP support. Through the program, qualifying subscribers can choose NextLight’s 100Mbps service for $14.95 per month or the Gigabit service for $44.95 per month after the discount is applied.
LICT Corporation recently informed their ACP customers that they can get an Extended Broadband Discount through at least January 31, 2025. LICT owns ten subsidiary broadband providers, primarily rural providers, in the western and midwestern United States,
LICT’s broadband discount will be equivalent to the customer’s ACP benefit and will be fully funded by LICT. It is available only to their subscribers who were previously on the ACP, as LICT does not have the capacity to measure the income requirements set by the federal government.
Though each company’s discount offering is slightly different—both in the amount of the discount and which subscribers are eligible—they are part of a growing trend in the broadband industry to replace the ACP with new programs for qualifying subscribers. The resulting service prices are comparable to or more generous than other ACP replacement programs offered by other broadband providers.
Updated to state that NextLight is a department of the City of Longmont, Colorado.
