Comcast Announces Largest Ever Expansion Of Its Internet Essentials Program

This week, Comcast announced the most sweeping eligibility changes ever to its Internet Essentials program, which is the largest, most comprehensive, and most successful broadband adoption program in America. Internet Essentials will now be available to all qualified low-income households in their service area. To be eligible, low-income applicants simply need to show they are participating in one or more of a dozen different federal assistance programs, including Medicaid, SNAP, and SSI. A full list can be found on the Internet Essentials website.

This expansion is the culmination of an audacious goal Comcast set eight years ago, which was to significantly close the digital divide for low-income Americans. With this expansion, the company will open the door to the transformative power of the Internet to millions of additional households – including people with disabilities, parents with children either too young for school, or whose children are in college, and adults without children who need a connection to learn digital skills, search and apply for new jobs, or research medical benefits.

In addition, Comcast announced that since 2011, the company has connected more than eight million low-income Americans – from two million households – to the Internet at home, most for the first time in their lives. Just to put that in perspective, eight million is larger than the populations of every city in America, except for New York City.

You can find more information about the Internet Essentials program on their website.