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$7 Billion Bonanza: The new FCC Broadband Connectivity Fund

September 7, 2021 | | Filed Under: General, Internet, Programs Tagged With: broadband

Here’s big news from the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC recently approved a new $7.17 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund Program.

We can hear you now: “What will they spend the money on.”

Here’s what: The geniuses in Washington, DC say the new program will make it possible for America’s schools and libraries to purchase laptops, tablets, and Wi-Fi hotspots, plus broadband connections. This, of course, will be huge for students and teachers across the country.

The program is part of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. 

Additional details of the new program were laid out by cnet.com:

It also follows the FCC approving a plan in February to administer $3.2 billion in emergency relief to subsidize broadband for millions of Americans during the pandemic. That program will provide $50 per month to low-income households and $75 per month to households on Native American lands to cover the cost of broadband services starting May 12. It also provides $100 toward buying a laptop or tablet.

“Between this Emergency Connectivity Fund Program and the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, we are investing more than $10 billion in American students and households,” Jessica Rosenworcel, acting chairwoman of the FCC, said in a statement Monday. “These investments will help more Americans access online education, healthcare and employment resources. They will help close the homework gap for students nationwide.”

Three. Point. Two. Billion. Dollars.

Coronavirus be damned. We cannot even begin to imagine how much this will help America’s students and teachers. It will surely be a tremendous aid in helping our kids catch up after their previous school year was so devastated by the coronavirus. It will help the older kids find jobs. And it will help all of them get better medical care.

According to the FCC, there may be 17 million children across the US who don’t have access to the broadband needed for remote learning. Those children are “disproportionately from communities of color, low-income households, Tribal lands, and rural areas,” the congresspeople behind the legislation — Sens. Edward J. Markey, Maria Cantwell, Chris Van Hollen, Michael Bennet, Maggie Hassan and Congresswoman Grace Meng — said.

“FCC implementation of the Emergency Connectivity Fund Program is an important step towards ensuring the ‘homework gap’ does not grow into a more damaging learning and opportunity gap for our children, particularly those who live in communities of color, low-income households and rural areas,” Sen. Markey said in a statement Monday evening.

We are accustomed to criticizing almost everything the government does, but we have nothing bad to say about this program. Of course, we are assuming that the government can pull this off without screwing it up, which is always a doubtful.

Let’s hope we are wrong.

Important Pages

  • A guide to Obama Phone providers in your state
  • Obama Phone News & Updates
  • What is the Obama Phone?
  • Who qualifies for an Obama Phone?
    • Tribal Head Start
    • Veterans Pension and Survivors Pension Eligibility for an Obama Phone
  • How to Get an Obama Phone?
  • Obamaphone Providers
  • Who Started the Obama Phone?
  • Lifeline Facts
  • Obama Phone FAQs
  • Discussion Forum / Q&A

Subsidized Internet Too

The FCC has also encouraged major internet providers to provide high-speed broadband to the very same people that qualify for the Obama Phone. Only $9.95 a month. There are cheap internet plans for both cable and DSL. To learn more please go to CheapInternet.com.

Recent News

  • Dropping like a rock: ObamaPhone enrollment falls by two million in three years
  • $7 Billion Bonanza: The new FCC Broadband Connectivity Fund
  • Sprint charges government for inactive Lifeline customers, FCC fines them $200 million for fraud
  • More than 1,000,000 have already signed up for government’s new $50 per month internet discount
  • Universal broadband for everyone who needs it! Free government cell phones for everyone who needs them! Mark Lowenstein for FCC Commissioner!
  • Could your ObamaPhone arrive with malware installed?
  • Assist Wireless exposes tens of thousands of customer IDs in five states
  • Is it the BidenPhone? Free unlimited talk, unlimited text AND unlimited data for a limited time
  • USAC’s port freeze rule eliminated, ObamaPhone customers can now switch companies at any time
  • Obama is gone, and now his enemies want to kill the Obama Phone program

Some Facts

#1 The Lifeline Assistance program started in Tennessee in mid-2008 and is now available in 49 states, DC and Puerto Rico.

#2 You qualify for a phone simply by accepting other government assistance -- Medicaid, food stamps, SSI, National School Lunch, Section 8 Housing, Home Energy assistance and others.

#3 The FCC is currently wrapping up a large pilot program that's testing ways to expand the ObamaPhone program to include broadband internet access.

Read More:
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