Andre Yoskowitz
5 Feb 2014 19:41
President Barack Obama has announced $750 million in commitments from U.S. companies to help bring broadband Internet to more classrooms.
AT&T and Sprint have committed free Web service through their wireless networks, Microsoft has committed to significantly discounting their Windows operating systems and will also offer 12 million copies of Microsoft Office free, Apple has committed $100 million in iPads and computers and Verizon will donate $100 million in cash.
"In a country where we expect free Wi-Fi with our coffee, we should definitely demand it in our schools," Obama said during his speech at a middle school.
Perhaps most importantly, the FCC will be using $2 billion collected from service fees to connect 15,000 schools and over 20 million students to high-speed broadband before the end of 2016. President Obama says only 30 percent of U.S. students have true high-speed Internet access at school.