The Schools and Libraries Division announced that on December 2 it will release 164 E-rate funding commitment letters committing over $50.6 million to applicants for the 2003 funding year. The issuance of this 17th wave of funding letters represents a total commitment, so far, of over $1.5 billion in 29,230 letters for the 2003 funding year. There was no change in the threshold for approved internal connections, which remains at the 85% discount rate.