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  "description": "Battle between NYC ISPs rages on.\n",
  "path": "/nyc-worker-owned-isp-faces-uncertain-future-amid-shifting-city-broadband-policy/",
  "publishedAt": "2025-07-03T18:54:24.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
  "tags": [
    "_Internet Master Plan_",
    "_Big Apple Connect program_",
    "All Videos from Speeding BEAD Summit",
    "_1,244 families with free internet_",
    "_petition on the People’s Choice_",
    "_the Democratic party’s candidate for NYC Mayor_"
  ],
  "textContent": "WASHINGTON, July 3, 2025 – People’s Choice Communications, a worker-owned broadband provider established in 2020 by striking Spectrum employees, has connected thousands of low-income households across New York City to free or low-cost internet.\n\nBacked by federal broadband subsidies and former Mayor **Bill de Blasio** ’s (D) _Internet Master Plan_, the cooperative offered a community-based alternative to larger internet service providers. However, since being excluded from Mayor **Eric Adams’** _Big Apple Connect program_ in 2022, People’s Choice is at risk of closure.\n\nPeople’s Choice relied heavily on the FCC’s Affordable Connectivity Program, which gave low-income households discounted or free internet access.\n\n\n\n_****FROM SPEEDING BEAD SUMMIT****_\n _****Panel 1: How Are States Thinking About Reasonable Costs Now?****_\n_****Panel 2: Finding the State Versus Federal Balance in BEAD****_\n _****Panel 3: Reacting to the New BEAD NOFO Guidance****_\n _****Panel 4: Building, Maintaining and Adopting Digital Workforce Skills****_\n\n All Videos from Speeding BEAD Summit \n\nThrough that program, People’s Choice offered 200 Mbps service at no cost, or for $30 per month, and sold laptops for $11. Its Digital Stewardship program trained network subscribers to help their neighbors get connected online, part of its mission to reach the 1.5 million New Yorkers who cannot afford Internet service.\n\nWith the expiration of ACP in June 2024 and the loss of the city’s support two years earlier, People’s Choice is running out of funding.\n\nIn the Bronx, the cooperative built extensive broadband infrastructure. In 2020, it provided thousands of Bronx residents with free high-speed wireless broadband through rooftop antennas.\n\nBy 2021, it connected more than 600 units of supportive housing to wireline broadband. At Melrose Houses, a New York City Housing Authority development, People’s Choice provided _1,244 families with free internet_ through the Federal Emergency Broadband Benefit. But after completing nearly 90 percent of its broadband infrastructure there, the city denied the cooperative a license to operate and ordered the removal of all installed equipment.\n\nA _petition on the People’s Choice_website states, “Our network in NYCHA (New York City public housing) is under attack.”\n\nThe co-op’s service was priced lower than other ISPs like Spectrum, with a 500 Mbps plan costing $45 a month compared to Charter Spectrum's $50, and a 1 Gbps plan for $60 versus Charter Spectrum's $70. These competitive prices were possible only through programs like the Internet Master Plan and the ACB – both of which have now ended.\n\nPeople’s Choice did not respond to an email asking about the recent loss of funding.\n\nWith a mayoral election approaching, People’s Choice's future could shift once again. **Zohran Mamdani** , _the Democratic party’s candidate for NYC Mayor_, has a political background rooted in progressivism and social reform. His platform closely aligns with the People’s Choice’s democratic founding and mission.\n\nMamdani explained his political beliefs in a recent interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” stating, “When we talk about my politics, I call myself a Democrat socialist in many ways inspired by the words of Dr. [Martin Luther] King [Jr.] from decades ago, who said: ‘Call it democracy or call it democratic socialism. There has to be a better distribution of wealth for all of God’s children in this country.’”\n\nAlthough Mamdani has not spoken directly about broadband, his election could challenge the dominance of large ISPs like Charter, leaving room for community and worker-led alternatives such as People’s Choice.\n\nMamdani’s office did not respond to an email asking about People’s Choice and his plans for affordable broadband internet access in New York City.",
  "title": "NYC Worker-Owned ISP Faces Uncertain Future Amid Shifting City Broadband Policy",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-11T03:26:54.544Z"
}