In the past few weeks, there was an urgent need for the federal government to include Puerto Rico in the projects submitted to the federal Congress to allocate funds to the Internet Discount Program (ACP).

Given this, the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Innovation, Information, Data and Technology, Enrique Völckers-Nin, along with other officials of the Government of Puerto Rico, traveled to the federal capital to present important data and statistics (among other issues), given that Puerto Rico became the jurisdiction with the best and greatest use of the program.

“We have already visited different representatives and senators to talk about the progress that Puerto Rico has made with the different efforts of the Smart Island program. In turn, we present to them the need for Puerto Rico to be included in the ACP extension, in order to prevent the 663,000 families that benefit from the program from being left without their help,” Völckers-Nin explained.

The meetings that took place included the chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Jessica Rossenworcel, staff from the offices of Senators Chuck Schumer, Ben Ray Luján and Ted Cruz Aide, members of the offices of representatives Brett Guthrie and Andy Barr, as well as members of the White House National Economic Council and the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

Reportedly, there are currently 663,000 families in Puerto Rico benefiting from the program, out of some 995,000 that are eligible. The average for the other states is 45%, while in Puerto Rico it is over 68%. This means that 2 out of 3 families benefit from this subsidy.

“In addition to presenting our urgency, we made ourselves available to collaborate on data analysis and provide details to improve projects and connectivity benefits for all American citizens,” added the assistant secretary.