The FCC is urged to revise/improve its community outreach materials to non-English speaking communities regarding the billions of dollars in broadband grants it distributes under the $14.2 billion Affordable Connectivity Program.
The ACP program provides up to $30 per month for broadband service (up to $75 for tribal communities) and up to $100 for a broadband access device, excluding phones smart, with the FCC providing information in different languages, including Spanish and Korean.
In a letter to the FCC, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, MediaJustice, New America’s Open Technology Institute, and Public Knowledge said the FCC should review its materials to ensure “languages and appropriate translations are used for fate
public.” They say that some translations “are too technical and would not be helpful to the average reader.”
As an example, they point to the use of the term “banda acha” in Spanish language documents for broadband, which they say is not a commonly used term for Internet access. “Technically accurate translations may not be recognizable or accessible to speakers of that language in the United States,” they told the FCC. ■
