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Date: 12/12/2023
WESTHAMPTON — Comcast, the local provider of internet access and cable television, notified town officials recently the company is applying to the federal gap initiative that offers funding to help pay for internet connections for seniors and low income residents. The Affordable Connectivity Program, or ACP, offers a monthly credit of $30 toward internet access.
Company representative Eileen Leahy contacted the town’s administrative assistant, Douglas Finn, to request a letter of support. Finn posted an announcement on the town website. The posting was partially in response to the company’s announcement that it would be raising its rates on Jan. 1, 2024.
“My prompt for posting that information was a notice that we received from Comcast, that as of the first of the year they are increasing their rates, from local TV channels on basic cable all the way up through pay per view channels,” Finn said. “Any break that we can pass on to our residents will be helpful.”
In Westhampton, Comcast provides internet access through Xfinity, which participates in the ACP program through its Internet Essentials initiative. Residents may establish their eligibility for the program by proving their participation in Medicaid, SNAP food benefits, public housing, the Pell education grant program or a veteran’s pension.
Receiving home energy assistance, Supplemental Security Income or Head Start, also known as the National School Lunch Program, can be used to apply for the ACP. Those programs often serve people and families younger than retirement age, signaling the program is not limited to seniors.
Leahy said the program was established to address the needs for broadband infrastructure in towns where the internet is not available to all addresses. Comcast will apply for program benefits through the Massachusetts Broadband Institute. MBI, in turn, is pushing to utilize millions of dollars in federal grant monies to extend internet access in several ways.
People may have trouble accessing the internet because of a lack of equipment in the home, a suitable computer or router. Another difficulty is a lack of training in how to use the internet. The lack of broadband access, an available internet connection through a broadband network, is a third factor blocking internet access.
MBI is funding programs, like the ACP, to address that lack of internet access and capabilities. Funding is also available for network development, with the added flexibility of regional networking, a broadband system spanning several towns. Another possible benefit is the federal programs may make available to participants a tablet, a screen suitable for displaying internet content, that offers basic hardware capabilities.
“Comcast is committed to bringing our services right to residents’ front doors,” Leahy wrote. “The best part is that this initiative will be implemented at no cost to Westhampton or its residents.”
The Selectboard sent a letter to MBI, dated Dec. 4, supporting Comcast’s application for the Gap program. The letter praises the company’s efforts to build infrastructure in the town and to serve the needs for broadband among residents. The program may then subsidize the build out of fiber optic cable to individual homes, the so-called last mile. The letter concludes that “accessible high-speed Broadband is as integral to every community in this century as telephone service was in the last.”
Finn praised the program as a way seniors and other low-income residents are spared from having to pay higher internet charges for access.
“It is a great program, as it allows those most in need, seniors on a fixed income, to get a break on their cable internet,” Finn said.
More information can be found at the ACP Support Center by emailing ACPSupport@usac.org, or by calling 877-384-2575.