Bureau Suggests FCC Keep 5-Year Budgeting for E-rate Funding of Internal Connections
The FCC Wireline Bureau recommended keeping a five-year E-rate budget approach for Wi-Fi and other internal connections under "category two" school and library funding. A data review found "numerous ways in which the category two budget approach has resulted in…
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a broader distribution of funding that is more equitable and more predictable," the bureau reported Monday in docket 13-184, noting supportive comments in the record. It said a prior "two-in-five" rule limiting category two funding to individual schools and libraries to two out of every five years was "ineffective." Staff recommended the FCC consider modifying the "category two budget approach to enhance" E-rate support for high-speed connectivity, including by "raising the funding floor if the Commission finds that insufficient funding is deterring participation by schools and libraries at the funding floor."