Posts by François Bar

This policy brief seeks to support states in their assessment and monitoring of low-cost services offered by BEAD grantees. The brief proposes concrete affordability benchmarks and provides evidence-based recommendations to help strike the appropriate balance between service affordability and the long-term sustainability of BEAD recipients. The evidence reveals that achieving BEAD’s objective of facilitating access…

Lifeline and the now defunct ACP (Affordable Connectivity Program) have helped millions of families afford Internet services that support online learning, remote work, and access to telehealth, among many other uses linked to social and economic wellbeing. However, individuals and families entitled to receive these benefits often have to navigate a complex web of procedures…

Did ACP have a measurable impact on broadband access? Did the program help connect low-income families that otherwise would not have been connected? As the ACP program winds down, these questions become ever more important for policymakers and policy advocates. In this study, we offer preliminary evidence that ACP in fact helped increase broadband adoption…

This publication, “The Future of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP): Examining the Impact of Changes to the Eligibility Criteria on Vulnerable Populations” presents three research analyses on potential modifications to ACP eligibility criteria and their impacts on program participation, vulnerable populations, and program costs. Specifically, the analyses focus on: 1) “Analyzing the Impact of Potential…