FCC Commits Another $86 Million In Emergency Connectivity Funding To Support Students And Libraries And Help Close The Homework Gap

The Federal Communications Commission is committing over $86 million in the 10th wave of Emergency Connectivity Fund program support. Since its June 2021 launch, the program has committed over $4.62 billion supporting all 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the District of Columbia. This latest round of funding will support over 240,000 students and provide funding for over 350 schools, 29 libraries, and 8 consortia, which are approved to receive over 239,000 connected devices and over 96,000 broadband connections. To ensure that ECF recipients get the full benefit of the equipment and services requested, the Wireline Competition Bureau adopted an order extending the date by which beneficiaries must use the funding by one year to June 30, 2023. The funding can be used to support off-campus learning, such as nightly homework, to ensure students across the country have the necessary support to keep up with their education. Total commitments to date are supporting over 11,000 schools, 900 libraries, and 130 consortia for over 10 million connected devices and over 5 million broadband connections. The announcement includes over $30 million in commitments from Window 1 applications and nearly $56 million in commitments from Window 2 applications.