By Kelcee Griffis

Law360 (April 6, 2021, 7:10 PM EDT ) A variety of smaller service providers and public interest groups are urging the Federal Communications Commission to ensure that a $7 billion program supporting at-home learning remains open-ended, letting schools and libraries decide how best to connect their students rather than limiting expenditures to devices for disconnected homes.

In a slew of comments posted Tuesday, these groups argued that the FCC should take a broad reading of Congress' Emergency Connectivity Fund framework that would allow eligible recipients to spend money both on devices like Wi-Fi hotspots and the deployment of new networks in areas where disconnected students live.

"The commission should use this flexibility in the legislative language to recognize that local schools and libraries are in the best position to determine the needs of their communities. There is no need for excessive FCC regulation of schools and libraries' purchasing decisions," wrote the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition.

The sweeping $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package, which President Joe Biden signed into law in mid-March, included aid ranging from stimulus checks and unemployment insurance to union pensions and internet access. Part of that package carved out more than $7 billion to support students, teachers and schools through an expansion of the FCC's E-Rate educational subsidy program.

According to the bill's language, schools and libraries will be eligible for 100% reimbursement of costs associated with providing "eligible equipment or advanced telecommunications and information services" during the pandemic to students and patrons, including Wi-Fi hotspots, routers, laptops and tablets.

Some large mobile service providers want the FCC to fund a narrower range of services and focus on mobile-connected devices, which they characterize as tried-and-true solutions.

According to T-Mobile, for instance, the FCC should clarify that "eligible equipment" includes mobile devices such as "hotspot-capable smartphones and standalone Wi-Fi hotspots, because these types of devices can serve as 'Wi-Fi hotspots' and that smartphones should be treated as 'connected devices.'" As for eligible services, T-Mobile said that "time-consuming infrastructure projects that would not be completed until years after the COVID-19 pandemic has abated" should be disqualified due to "the very short time" in which the money can be used.

According to T-Mobile, mobile networks already exist and can best meet students' needs, as mobile-connected devices are portable and service should be widely available across the country.

"This solution ensures that children living in temporary housing, such as shelters, and those that require after-school care outside the home can continue to participate in school and keep up with their homework," T-Mobile wrote.

Verizon similarly lobbied for a narrow definition of covered devices and services to include only those explicitly named in the legislation: "Wi-Fi hotspots, modems, routers, devices that combine a modem and router, and 'connected devices' such as laptops and tablets."

Public interest groups, however, said that in many areas of the country, the funds could best be spent on a mix of technologies to bring internet networks directly to students. The groups — which include Public Knowledge, the National Hispanic Media Coalition and Digital Tribal Village — noted that nationwide commercial networks tend to have poor or nonexistent signals in rural or underprivileged areas.

"The commission should include not only modems and Wi-Fi hotspots, but also any fixed wireless antennas, transmitters, towers, or installation needed to extend high-speed wireless connections directly to students, teachers and library patrons by leveraging any available technology or band of spectrum that is cost-effective in closing the homework gap," the groups wrote.

SHLB reiterated this point as well, writing that, "in these situations, the only way to connect students and library patrons to broadband is for the school or library to deploy its own wireless equipment and service, either by contracting with a private sector company or installing the equipment and providing service itself."

Starry, a wireless internet service provider, and trade group WISPA also echoed that the $7 billion fund could invest in connectivity infrastructure that will outlast the pandemic.

"By remaining technology neutral and allowing the ECF to fund the construction of a variety of innovative networks and services, the FCC can support cost-effective and creative network solutions that further connectivity to the communities in and around schools and libraries," Starry wrote.

--Editing by Kelly Duncan.

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