E-rate News

December 17, 2021

FCC Releases FY2022 Eligible Services List

On December 17, 2021, the Federal Communications Commission released the final Eligible Services List (ESL) for Funding Year 2022. While the Commission added a clarification regarding software licenses for Category...

December 17, 2021

Free Tool Helps Schools Compare Internet Costs

K-12 schools can now access a free pricing comparison tool for their internet access. Connect K-12 has published its 2021 broadband data tool. This is an online resource that provides...

December 17, 2021

Notice of Inquiry on Future of the Universal Service Fund

On December 15, 2021, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a Notice of Inquiry seeking comment on issues related to the future of the Universal Service Fund (USF or Fund)...

December 14, 2021

FCC to Consider Changes to E-rate Bidding Requirements

On December 14, 2021, the FCC initiated a review process to consider ways in which the competitive bidding requirements for the E-rate program could be enhanced. “It is our nation’s largest education technology...

December 13, 2021

USAC System Outage

On December 13, 2021, USAC announced that it had pulled some USF program systems offline while completing a security review in response to the Log4j vulnerability. As of this posting,...

December 13, 2021

Proposed First Qtr 2022 Contribution Factor

On December 13, 2021, the FCC announced that the proposed contribution factor for the first quarter of 2022 will be 25.2 percent. The contribution factor requires telecommunications companies to pay...

December 7, 2021

Rosenworcel Confirmed Permanent FCC Chair

On December 7, 2021, the United States Senate confirmed Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s nomination to another term serving on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). She is the first female to permanently...

December 7, 2021

Coalition Supports Improved E-rate Bidding NPRM

On December 6, 2021, several E-rate stakeholders sent a joint letter to the FCC regarding the draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes to implement a central bidding portal through...