Discounts on internet service have ended for hundreds of Minot and area households with the shutdown of a federal program created to make broadband more accessible during the pandemic.

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) phased out at the end of May as federal funding ran out, although the program effectively ended for most people at the end of April when many service providers stopped participation. As funds dwindled, the federal government ended new signups Feb. 8 and participating carriers who continued past April had to reduce the discount in May due to lack of federal funds.

In April, SRT had 315 ACP subscribers among its nearly 24,000 total subscribers. About 74% were Minot-based, with the remainder in SRT’s rural areas, said SRT CEO/General Manager Cassidy Hjelmstad, Minot.

Andrew Curley, senior director of Government Relations with Midco, Sioux Falls, said the company saw about 300 households in Ward County use the ACP. About 20% of the subscribers were new customers, while the remaining were previous customers who added the ACP credit to their existing accounts.

In addition, a number of wireless providers also offered benefits through ACP to subscribers in the Minot area.

“North Dakota, as a whole, was one of the lowest adoption states for ACP across the country,” Hjelmstad said. She said the reason may be North Dakotans’ reluctance to seek help because the state also has seen weaker numbers in the longer standing Lifeline program, which assists qualifying households with landline, wireless or broadband expenses.

In April, all 315 of SRT’s ACP subscribers also were Lifeline subscribers, she said.

The $14.2 billion ACP, which was part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed by Congress in 2021, provided qualifying households with a discount of up to $30 on monthly internet bills. Those on tribal lands received $75 a month. Eligible households also could have received a one-time discount of up to $100 toward the purchase of a laptop, desktop computer or tablet from participating internet companies if the household contributed more than $10 and less than $50 toward the purchase price.

Lifeline provides a broadband discount of $9.25 a month. It is a government benefit supported by the Universal Service Fund. Eligibility is based on a household income at or below 135% of the federal poverty guidelines or participation in a household federal assistance program, including housing, nutrition, veteran pension, Medicaid and Head Start.

“ACP was created during COVID to assist with getting Americans connected, but it was always meant to be a temporary service,” Hjelmstad said.

During the wind-down period, internet companies were required to send participating households three separate notices about the ACP ending.

Hjelmstad said SRT did not include information about partial discounts for May in its notices because it wasn’t known how much those discounts would be. Without being able to communicate that information, SRT decided to end its participation after April.

The last day of participation with ACP through Midco was April 30. Due to complexities with billing systems and schedules, the decision was not to continue into May with reduced discounts, Curley said.

“Nearly all of the customers who were receiving the ACP benefit have chosen to continue receiving broadband service from Midco, with the majority choosing to keep the same service package,” he said.

The Federal Communications Commission reported more than 23 million households had used ACP. Different pieces of legislation have been proposed in Congress to continue funding the program, at least to some degree, but no bill has passed.

Hjelmstad said ACP was vulnerable to fraud and abuse because rules were less stringent than Lifeline.

“Even though ACP is a great program, if the level of support continues, we’d like to make sure that it goes to the people who truly qualify,” she said.

As of May, Hjelmstad said, SRT still had 97% of its former ACP customers connected.

“The program was great, and if it came back we would absolutely promote it again,” she said. “But for now we will definitely promote Lifeline and let people know that there are options for customers who qualify for assistance.”