ISP-Subsidized Broadband Shows Mixed Results
As ISPs increasingly offer low-cost broadband programs similar to Comcast's Internet Essentials (IE), the number of eligible households climbs, though a significant amount of the subsidization goes to households that would have been subscribed anyway. That's per Technology Policy Institute…
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President Scott Wallsten and Stanford University Public Policy Program Director Gregory Rosston, presented Thursday at the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference. The study looked IE from 2011 launch as a voluntary FCC condition on the NBCUniversal acquisition through 2015. It found about 66 percent of subscribers were increases in low-income adoption stemming from the program, the remainder households switching from a competitor ISP or that would have signed up given adoption trends. It said IE-eligible households were more likely to take online courses or training than households in the footprints of other providers. It's unclear whether, when competing ISPs offer similar programs, customers benefit much or if the bonus is to the provider in customer retention. Wallsten told us such programs don't necessarily point to solutions for the digital divide. IE targeted households lacking broadband, and might not fly politically with a government program, meaning automatically broader eligibility for subsidies, he said. As fewer lack connectivity, holdouts become increasingly hard to reach, especially since research shows price isn't the dominant issue, he said, noting IE's heavily reduced monthly bill attracted only a share of the target population online. Comcast didn't comment.