Comcast announced a partnership with the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development’s ConnectHome initiative, expanding its Internet Essentials low-cost high-speed data service to HUD-assisted households within its service territory.
Comcast launched Internet Essentials, which initially provided low-cost broadband to homes in its territory that participated in the National School Lunch Program in 2011. The service was part of conditions imposed on the company by the Federal Communications Commission for approval of its purchase of NBCUniversal. To date, Comcast has provided Internet Essentials, which offers up to 10 Mbps service for $9.95 per month, computer equipment and training, to about 600,000 homes, representing 2.4 million individuals. In addition, the cable operator has provided about 47,000 worth of low-cost computers at less than $150 each to residents and distributed nearly 51 million Internet Essentials program materials.
Including homes covered by Comcast’s pilot public housing expansion in March, a total of about 2 million HUD-assisted homes, including Public Housing, Housing Choice Voucher, and Multifamily programs, will now have access to the low-cost internet service.
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