NEWS RELEASE
NEXTLIGHT
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Longmont’s community-owned internet provider NextLight is offering a $25/month discount to income-qualified customers after the federal Affordable Connectivity Program expires in May, aiming to keep NextLight’s broadband service accessible to the whole community.
Residential customers can apply online for the new Internet Assistance Program online or by calling NextLight at 303-774-4494. The program is open to current NextLight customers and new subscribers.
“The ACP appears to be going away, but the need for help hasn’t,” said Valerie Dodd, NextLight’s executive director. “We know how essential high-speed internet service is for all our residents, so we want to be a good neighbor and help keep NextLight a service for everyone.”
The discount mirrors a $25 benefit that NextLight offered at the start of the pandemic in 2020, before the federal government began to offer the ACP and its predecessor, the Emergency Broadband Benefit. Qualifying customers will be able to receive NextLight’s 100-megabit connection for $14.95/month or its high-speed gigabit connection for $44.95/month.
NextLight had already been partially funding the assistance to its ACP customers for over a year. The federal program initially offered a $50/month discount on internet service to qualifying applicants when it launched in 2021, but the amount was pared down to $30/month at the start of 2022. When that happened, NextLight chose to keep offering the higher benefit by self-funding the $20 difference.
“We would love to see Congress step up and continue the ACP,” Dodd said. “But whether that happens or not, we will open the door as wide as we can so that all our residents can be part of the NextLight community.”
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