The Federal Communications Commission is preparing for a narrow vote on Chairman Tom Wheeler’s proposal to expand Wi-Fi access for the nation’s schools and libraries, agency observers said in separate interviews July 9. The FCC plans to vote on an order during its July 11 meeting to spend $2 billion to fund Wi-Fi in U.S. schools and libraries over the next two years though it does not indicate how funding will be allocated over the following three years. The proposal, which generally seeks to modernize the 18-year-old E-Rate program, has sharply divided critics over its proposed funding models and whether or not the FCC should increase the program’s $2.4 billion annual budget cap. Failure to enact substantive changes to the E-Rate program could mar President Barack Obama’s State of the Union pledge to provide schools and libraries with gigabit per second broadband Internet connections within the next five years. Read more…
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