The US Federal Communications Commission has voted to spend $2 billion over the next two years on improving Wi-Fi networks at schools and libraries, despite questions from Republican commissioners about the source of those funds. The FCC, in a 3-2 party-line vote Friday, approved a plan to revamp the 17-year-old E-Rate program, which pays for telecom services for schools and libraries, by phasing out funding for voice service, Web hosting and paging services, and redirecting money to Wi-Fi. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler had proposed a $5 billion budget for Wi-Fi, but Republican commissioners and some lawmakers had questioned where the money would come from. Still, the E-Rate revamp approved Friday contemplates a $1 billion-a-year target for Wi-Fi projects “year after year,” Wheeler said. The commitment of $1 billion for Wi-Fi in 2015 means that “10 million students are going to experience new and better opportunities,” he added.
American schools are set to receive billions in federal dollars to bring wifi to more kids. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today approved, by a 3-2 vote, a new plan that will deploy $2 billion over a two year period to bring increased wireless Internet capabilities to schools. The program will impact at least 10 million kids each year. The larger E-Rate program that helped get nearly all American school Internet access has an annual budget of $2.4 billion. The wifi monies come on top of that tally. It almost didn’t happen. Republican members of the Commission found the original $5 billion plan too expensive, and Democrats wanted the full amount. The smaller figure failed to unit the opposing sides, and the final vote was executed according to party affiliation. The FCC, in an email, noted that the passed plan does “target” the original $5 billion amount that Commissioner Ajit Pai stated would “blow a $2.7 billion hole” in E-Rates’ budget. Complaint was also raised about how the money would be spent in terms of the breakdown of its rural and urban divide, and if the new plan sufficiently reformed its the bureaucratic overhead that the E-Rate program currently endures. Spoiler: Not everyone is convinced. Despite complaint from various angles, the Democratic portion of the Commission managed to find enough common ground to pass the effort. In the end, FCC Chairman Wheeler stated that passing the plan was a “good day’s work,” given the impact it will have on kids. That’s correct, but the is enough tang in the vote to indicate that something bigger was perhaps within reach.