How the Emergency Broadband Benefit has Been Used So Far Note

Four months after the launch of the EBB program, the FCC has released granular data about participation. Some results are to be expected, but others may surprise you.

Emergency Broadband Benefit

The Emergency Broadband Benefit is a program of the Federal Communications Commission that is designed to make broadband Internet access more affordable. This FCC program is temporary, and the EBB was instituted specifically to deal with challenges arising from the pandemic. The digital divide is not a new problem, but it is certainly the one that has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Lockdowns have forced more people to work and attend school remotely, which is problematic if you lack internet access. The EBB provides $50 a month to most qualifying household and $75 a month to those on tribal lands, and it can include a one-time $100 benefit to put toward a tablet or other device.

Top Cities

San Juan, Puerto Rico, sits at the top of the city list with more than 200,000 participants. Of the cities in the continental United States, the EBB demographics are reflective of how large these cities—or boroughs in the case of New York—are. In order, the list includes Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Bronx, Chicago and Phoenix. One potential outlier is Cleveland, Ohio, which sits just below Los Angeles in this list and has a much higher participation relative to its population than the others.

The 25-49 Range Tops Age Demographics

Participation data by age looks a lot like a bell curve, and this perhaps the least surprising aspect of the data. The 85 and up group participates the least, but this group is small and more inclined not to use the internet. The second group is 18-24. They are tech savvy but more likely to have bills covered by their parents. The 25-49 have participated the most and, in fact, account for than half of participants overall, and that group is followed by the 50-64 demographic and then the 65-84 cluster.

Mobile Broadband Dominates Usage

What jumps out most about the data is that more than 68% of all participants have used the EBB toward mobile broadband. Only about 30% use it for fixed broadband and less than 1% use it for fixed wireless or satellite internet. What jumps out the most about this data is that the EBB was designed to help people afford home internet, and fixed broadband is certainly the class of internet that we most associate with residential use. It encompasses cable, fiber-optic internet and DSL.

In fairness, mobile broadband is a bit unclear as a category. It includes any service where a cell phone carrier delivers internet to a mobile device, and that very much does include tablets and laptops. There is no doubt a number of these users connecting through a mobile hotspot. However, the most likely case is that a majority of users are accessing the program as a cell service subsidy.

Most Households Enrolled Via Lifeline

More than half—nearly 3 million—of all participants have accessed the EBB via the permanent Lifeline program. This is perhaps not surprising on two fronts. Lifeline participants are low-income people who already needed assistance and sought that help. In addition, having already been approved for Lifeline makes you prequalified for the EBB, and that streamlines the process of claiming it.

Those households not already participating in Lifeline have to get FCC approval either through the National Verifier Application or the Alternative Verification Process. In most cases, this has been facilitated through internet service providers such as Spectrum, Verizon and others. New and existing customers have to call their local ISPs, inquire about the available EBB plans and go through that process, which means there is more resistance to getting the benefit.