Starks and Gomez Focused on ACP and Possible Tech Contributions

ASPEN -- Finding a way to restore the affordable connectivity program (ACP) is a high priority for the end of 2024 and social media-related advertising revenue could provide potential solutions, FCC Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez said Monday.

Starks and Gomez sat with us in separate interviews on the sidelines of the Technology Policy Institute Aspen Forum. Starks told us that although the ACP Extension Act (HR-6929/S-3565) has failed to move, there is “significant political support” in both chambers.

Gomez said the bipartisan, bicameral working group on Universal Service Fund (USF) reform has offered intriguing concepts for affordable connectivity funding. Potential contributions from the digital advertising industry, for example, is a “very interesting” concept, she said.

The FCC touched on the prospect of edge provider contributions in a January letter to Senate Communications Subcommittee Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., a key member of the working group. The agency said the definition for edge provider includes social media platforms, streaming services, cloud computing services, online gaming platforms, e-commerce companies, digital search companies and over-the-top messaging providers. Recent proposals envision the FCC requiring revenue contributions from ads hosted on these services. The agency discussed the possibility of rolling ACP into USF. The commission estimates that expanding the current USF contribution base to “include edge providers would increase the contribution base by approximately $2.3 trillion on top of the current base of approximately $33 billion,” the agency said. The agency also warned, however, that mandating contributions from edge providers could spur increases in consumer costs for those services.

Starks noted during a panel discussion that the USF contribution factor, which is the percentage of certain revenue streams providers must contribute, is consistently above 20%-25% and sometimes well above 30%. “It is clear that there’s something broken about that fundamental system.”

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in July declared the USF unconstitutional (see 2407240043). Regardless of the ongoing legal proceeding, Congress must act, Gomez said. The FCC would need congressional authority to allow the agency to collect contributions from new sectors.

Gomez flew to Aspen from Alaska, where she met with federal and state officials to better understand its connectivity landscape. Gomez said she visited several cities and villages and that Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and staff from the office of Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, joined her for part of the tour. Gomez met with the state broadband office and the chief of staff for Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R). She remains optimistic Congress can strike a bipartisan agreement that will update USF and ACP. “We have strong, bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate, so it’s just a matter of getting the right vehicle and moving forward,” she said. “I’ve always said Congress is really good at pulling rabbits out of a hat, and keep hoping they’ll pull that rabbit.”

Starks recently met with Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, at a middle school in Dallas, which he said enrolls students who rely on ACP. The ACP funding lapse, he said, is “a grievous policy issue that we have got to correct as quickly as possible” (see 2408190046).