Longmont NextLight’s Affordability Program Picks Up Federal Slack For Low Income Locals
Follow-up studies about the Affordable Connectivity Program have shown that costs were more than offset by the broad savings it generated American taxpayers.
Since it first broke ground in 2014, Longmont, Colorado’s city-owned NextLight fiber network has won numerous awards and inspired countless communities nationwide. But the network, which recently expanded access to more than 28,000 area residents, is also trailblazing in another area: ensuring that fiber is affordable to low income, marginalized populations.
NextLight unveiled its locally-funded Internet Assistance Program (IAP) last year. The program provides low-income residents with a $25 discount off of NextLight’s already affordable fiber pricing. As a result, locals can receive symmetrical 100 megabit per second (Mbps) service for as little as $14.95 a month, and symmetrical 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) fiber for $45.
To apply, households must qualify for any of a number of existing federal programs, including the Federal Communication Commission's Lifeline, Head Start, Medicaid-MSP or SLMP, Veterans or survivor’s pension, Section 8, WIC, food stamps, Federal Pell Grants, Supplemental Security Income, SVVSD Education Benefit, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations.
IAP was created to offset the collapse of the FCC's Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which provided a $30 per month discount off of the broadband bills of low-income Americans. The program was summarily discontinued after Republicans in Congress refused to fund a program extension.
According to Longmont officials, not only is their IAP program available to a much broader qualification base, with more than 1000 subscribers now enrolled, the program is currently helping 14 percent more city subscribers than the FCC’s ACP did at its peak.
“At a time when many struggling households across the nation have had to decide whether to keep internet service at all, we’re proud of NextLight’s continued work to close the ‘digital divide’ and make our city’s fiber network a service for all of Longmont,” said NextLight’s Scott Rochat.
At the time the ACP was discontinued, the municipal network says that 906 NextLight customers were receiving the federal discount. As of April 2025, NextLight’s own assistance program is helping 1,034 customers – a 14 percent increase in one year.
“For families across Longmont, having a high-speed internet connection isn’t optional – it’s vital,” said Valerie Dodd, NextLight’s executive director. “We want our NextLight community to know that when times get challenging, we can help them stay connected so that they can continue to work, study and thrive.”
Destruction of ACP ignores broad benefits
The ACP, part of the 2021 infrastructure bill, provided 23 million low-income households a $30 broadband discount every month. It provided a larger $75 a month discount for low-income residents of widely underserved tribal areas. The ACP also provided low-income Americans a $100 subsidy to help them afford a laptop, tablet or a desktop computer.
At the time it was discontinued, more than 23 million Americans were enrolled in the program. At the time, Republican lawmakers insisted they blocked the estimated $7.3 billion yearly annual cost of the program to save the American taxpayer money.
“The Biden administration’s reckless spending spree has left America’s current fiscal situation in a state of crisis, with gross debt at nearly $34 trillion,” they wrote in 2023. “It is incumbent on lawmakers to protect taxpayers and make funding decisions based on clear evidence.”
But follow up studies have since shown that the annual cost of the ACP was more than offset by the broad savings it generated American taxpayers.
One study by The Brattle Group found that the ACP’s $7.3 billion annual price tag was more than compensated by the $28.9 to $29.5 billion taxpayers would save from access to remote telehealth visits, estimated to be 23 percent less expensive than in-person visits.
Additional savings were generated by expanded remote education and employment opportunities.
“Compared to the modest annual cost of $7.3 billion, the total quantified benefits studied in this paper alone are significantly larger,” the authors wrote. “The overall healthcare savings alone are quadruple the annual funding and can more than offset the costs of the entire ACP. At the subscriber level, Medicaid cost savings generated by switching one physical medical visit for a Medicaid recipient to one telehealth visit, would generate sufficient savings to pay for 3.5 years of ACP support for a Medicaid recipient.”
The Brattle Group study echoes similar findings published in a 2023 report ILSR published in partnership with the Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative, which examined the savings that universal access to broadband could have with telehealth across 10 counties in the Black Belt of Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi.
Localities, states forced to eye real world solutions after ACP collapse
Data shows that affordability continues to be a significant barrier to broadband adoption across much of the United States. Decades of “redlining” discrimination in broadband by regional monopolies – which at times involves charging low-income and minority communities more money for even slower service – has only accentuated the problem.
In the wake of the ACP’s demise, subscribers that had grown accustomed to the stability of affordable broadband access were suddenly faced with pronounced bill shock. Countless states and localities have rushed to try and fill the void.
During the peak of the pandemic, New York State passed the Affordable Broadband Act, mandating that large broadband providers must provide low-income families access to service tiers of 25 Mbps for $15 per month, or 200 Mbps for $20 per month. After numerous legal challenges the law was enacted, though enforcement has been an issue.
22 States have expressed support for New York and may follow in the state’s lead on mandating broadband affordability, a route ILSR has argued is essential given the federal government’s complete abdication of consumer protection responsibilities. Colorado, so far, hasn’t been among them.
“At this time, Colorado doesn’t have any proposed legislation that would require providers to offer discounted rates,” Rochat tells ILSR. “Regardless of what the General Assembly does, we will always make it a priority to provide discounted services for qualifying households in need. We hope that other Internet providers consider it equally important to make that commitment, so that everyone can have access to the high-speed connections they need.”
Absent federal and state action on the issue of broadband affordability, it’s been left to local communities to help bridge the digital divide. Communities that have taken a more direct role in building and controlling their own regional telecom infrastructure have once again proven better positioned to improve the lives of local residents and businesses.
“The financial ability for a provider to do this will vary greatly depending on their individual circumstances, such as their current subscriber penetration or the stage of their network buildout,” Rochat says.
“NextLight’s ability to self-fund the IAP is supported by a combination of factors, including a significant subscriber take rate and strong endorsement from community organizations, city leadership, and the city council. That level of community support helps strengthen our ability to support our community in turn.”
This article was published by the Community Broadband Networks Initiative of the Institute for Local Self Reliance on CommunityNets on May 21, 2025, and is reprinted with permission.
