Verizon donated $100 million to schools. That’s just 7.5 hours of revenue.

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[Commentary] Three of the nation's biggest telecom companies -- Verizon, Sprint and AT&T -- each announced a $100 million commitment to provide free wireless data or other in-kind donations for up to four years to US schools. But while the corporate charity will make a big difference to some students, policy experts say it won't be enough to fill the yawning gap between educators' needs and what the government can reasonably accomplish on its own.

There’s a dire need for cheaper service and infrastructure -- and it's going unmet, even as the Internet providers who can do the most to remedy the situation rake in billions of dollars in profit every year. Yes, they're businesses, and their duty is to shareholders. But what we now take for granted as an ironclad corporate norm favoring shareholder dividends is a fairly recent phenomenon; it was less than a century ago that communications companies like AT&T operated on a belief in public service. Today's broadband providers should aspire to that.


Verizon donated $100 million to schools. That’s just 7.5 hours of revenue.