Many Kentucky residents could get money for broadband internet under this program
Kentucky leads the nation in households taking advantage of a subsidy for internet service, but still has hundreds of thousands of people who could benefit.
That’s according to a report from BroadbandNow, which researches prices and availability in advocating for broadband service for all U.S. residents.
The report was on a program called the Emergency Broadband Benefit. Congress authorized the program to help people afford high-speed internet during the coronavirus pandemic as many jobs, doctor’s appointments and school work moved online.
The report from BroadbandNow said 172,243 of the estimated 508,260 households in Kentucky eligible for the benefit had enrolled.
That was only a little over a third of the eligible households, at 33.8 percent, but that still ranked Kentucky first in the country, according to the report.
The other sites in the top five were Washington, D.C., Louisiana, Oklahoma and Ohio.
South Dakota had the lowest estimated enrollment, at 3.6 percent, according to the report. The four states with the lowest rates were North Dakota, Alaska, New Hampshire and Wyoming.
Nationwide, only 7.1 million households out of an estimated 30 million eligible, or just over 23 percent, had enrolled by this month, the report said.
BroadbandNow said additional marketing of the program is needed.
The initial phase of the program provided up to $50 a month for qualifying households, plus a one-time discount of up to $100 to buy a computer or tablet.
People enrolled in the program as of Dec. 31 will still get the same $50 monthly benefit until March 1, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
That will drop to $30 a month under a program Congress approved to replace the emergency benefit, called the Affordable Connectivity Program, but the number of people eligible based on income will increase.
The program is open to households with lower incomes; participate in assistance programs such as Medicaid or SNAP, also known as food stamps; include students who receive free or reduced-price lunches; received a Pell Grant for college; or which lost a significant amount of income since Feb. 29, 2020 because of a job loss or furlough.
Information on applying is available at https://www.fcc.gov/broadbandbenefit.
