Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) has announced another expansion of its subsidized Internet Essentials program, opening up the program to anyone in its footprint receiving public housing aid or HUD assistance.
It's the eighth time Comcast has expanded the broadband program, which offers ISP service to low-income families for $9.95 a month. And it increases the number of eligible families from 700,000 to roughly 2 million.
"This is the single largest expansion of the Internet Essentials program in its history, and we're thrilled to be working with HUD to help connect even more families, including seniors, veterans, and adults without children, to the transformative power of having internet service at home," said David L. Cohen, senior executive VP and chief diversity officer of Comcast.
According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 40 percent of families receiving aid from the government agency reside in the Comcast footprint.
For $9.95 a month, Internet Essentials users receive a Wi-Fi router and 10 Mbps internet service. Users also can buy a computer for $150 and attend free tech training classes.
In March, Comcast announced a partnership with HUD to further extend Internet Essentials to public housing in three regions.
Under the agreement, eligibility for the subsidized program was extended to public housing residents in Miami-Dade County, and the cities of Seattle, Philadelphia and Nashville, Tennessee.
Comcast said at the time that 600,000 low-income families, representing 2.4 million American individuals, have received Internet Essentials. Eligibility, however, was determined by whether children in families were receiving school lunch aid. The latest expansion conveys eligibility, regardless of whether families have children.
For more:
- read this Comcast press release
- read this Denver Post story
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