An Additional $269 Million Committed, Bringing Total Commitments to Over $2.63 Billion and Connecting Over 9 Million Students
WASHINGTON, October 25, 2021—The Federal Communications Commission today announced that it has received requests for nearly $1.3 billion in the second application filing window of the $7.17 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund Program to fund nearly 2.4 million connected devices and over 564,000 broadband connections. The Commission also committed an additional $269 million to fund connected devices and broadband connections requested in the first application filing window.
During the second application filing window, the Commission received applications from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia. The FCC offered the second application filing window, which ran from September 28 to October 13, to accommodate strong demand for the program in the first round. The funding can be used to support off-campus leaning, such as homework and virtual learning, as schools and libraries continue to respond to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The Commission to date has committed $2,632,195,122.16 in program funding to school and library applicants. With the first three waves, the FCC is providing support for over 6.1 million connected devices and nearly 2.9 million broadband connections to support 6,028 schools, 512 libraries, and 49 consortia. More details about which schools and libraries will receive funding can be found at https://www.fcc.gov/ecf-current-funding-commitments.
