Photo courtesy of Newconnect.co.za

MIAMI – The U.S. Senate has decided to end a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) program that funded free Wi-Fi hotspots outside schools and libraries for underserved citizens.

The program allowed those who couldn’t afford wireless technology services to have free Wi-Fi access at the hotspots.

The FCC program used roughly $2.6 billion in federal funding nationwide.

According to Vergo, prior to the vote, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said the rule “violates the Communications Act, which clearly limits the use of the funds in question to classrooms and libraries.”

Former FFC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, who was the first to introduce the program, said last year that she disagreed that the law doesn’t support hotspot lending.

Citing remote learning issues that were put in sharp relief by the covid pandemic, Rosenworcel wrote that while E-Rate had “overwhelming success connecting schools and libraries,” it needed to be modernized so that schools and libraries could “loan out Wi-Fi hotspots to support high-speed internet access in rural America, urban America, and everything in between.”

She noted that the change could be accomplished “within the existing E-Rate budget.”

In a statement released after the Senate’s vote, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, who was nominated by former President Joe Biden, said the vote will exacerbate economic disparities.

“Those with sufficient internet access are increasingly separated from those without, and this decision risks widening that gap even further,” Gomez said.