Tackling the Digital Divide: Broadband Access in Rural America

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) was an unprecedented expansion in the magnitude of broadband subsidies. While the ACP clearly reduced broadband costs for connected households, its effect on broadband subscription rates is unclear. In this paper, we employ a zip-code-level regression model using ACP claims and ACS data to estimate the effect of ACP deployment on new broadband subscriptions. We find consistently non-significant results. Our results suggest that the ACP likely resulted in fewer new subscriptions than prior estimates based on qualitative survey data.

Pascal Descollonges (Project Lead), Jatin Chadha, Irene Cho, Arnav Harve, Ndidi Opara, Saia Patel, Marco Parisse, Victor Qian, and Vasuda Vaidyanathan