FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announced that the eRate program that collects and distributes taxes from the “universal access fund” to provide services to schools across the US will be modified in important ways.
1) F.C.C. will double, to $2 billion, the spending on high-speed Internet connections in schools and libraries in each of the next two years.
2) Restriction of eRate funding for projects to more efficient broadband connectivity efforts instead of the broader range of present expenditure types which have included pagers and dial up. This could mean real opportunities for SNM.
E-rate is part of the Universal Service Fund, a program that pays to connect rural areas, low-income people and schools and libraries to advanced telecommunications services. It is financed by an approximately 15 percent tax on a portion of consumers’ home and wireless phone bills.
3) Additional tax levies possible on use of phone or phone like devices.