By Kelcee Griffis

Law360 (July 1, 2021, 7:00 PM EDT) -- Populous states appear to be underperforming in getting qualified residents signed up for subsidized internet service through the Emergency Broadband Benefit, a new report from mobile provider TruConnect indicates.

States with the largest populations — California, Texas, New York and Florida — have some of the lowest rates of eligible residents enrolled in the $50 monthly subsidy program, according to the report, which was based on data from the National Lifeline Association and was released Wednesday.

States with fewer residents top the national enrollment charts, with Louisiana, Oklahoma and Kentucky each signing up about 13% of their eligible low-income residents. However, the four largest states by population lagged below the national adoption average of 6.4%. For example, California and Texas respectively enrolled 5.8% and 5% of their qualified populations.

Some of the difficulty in onboarding eligible residents stems from the program framework some states use, according to a TruConnect spokesperson.

"These states have verification requirements that favor cable and fiber companies over mobile. Considering that nearly 50 million people earning less than $30,000 per year are smartphone-dependent and that homeless individuals clearly cannot use cable for obvious reasons, this is a gross oversight," according to a summary of the report provided to Law360.

The report explains that mobile companies that already participate in the Federal Communications Commission's Lifeline subsidy program were told to use the existing subscriber verification framework, which didn't make it easy for ISPs to help those who signed up for the EBB. However, cable companies that do not participate in the Lifeline program were allowed to use a less cumbersome process to sign people up for the EBB, resulting in higher customer participation.

Established by Congress in late 2020, the EBB is supposed to respond to a widespread lack of affordable internet service at a time when Americans have largely been working and learning remotely.

People are eligible for the benefit if they qualify for Lifeline, Medicaid or SNAP benefits; are in the free or reduced-school lunch program; have had a substantial drop in household income since the pandemic started; or have received a Pell grant for the current academic year.

The limited-run program subsidizes up to $50 of a qualifying household's monthly internet bill or up to $75 of monthly internet service on tribal lands. It can also cover $100 toward a one-time equipment purchase that would allow households to get online as long as it purchases the equipment through its internet provider. The discounts will end when the $3.2 billion in federal funding is exhausted.

As of June 27, 3 million households have been enrolled in the program since it went live on May 12, according to a tracker maintained by the Universal Service Administrative Co., which administers FCC subsidies.

The EBB encountered growing pains during its inaugural month. Law360 analyzed more than 300 consumer complaints and found that the top gripe was that ISPs often didn't recognize a customer's eligibility for the EBB, even after qualifying for the program through the FCC's sign-up portal.

"The enrollment and excitement about the EBB program are self-evident with the actual enrollment numbers," said TruConnect Co-CEO Matthew Johnson in a statement to Law360. "We only ask that [Lifeline] carriers have the [alternative verification] process approved by the FCC so we can provide the same service ... as cable companies."

--Editing by Adam LoBelia.

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