On October 19, 2016 the FCC and T-Mobile entered into a Consent Decree based on an FCC investigation “…into whether the company adequately disclosed speed and data restrictions for its unlimited data plan subscribers…”. The settlement includes $48 million in total financial commitments from T-Mobile and includes a specific component to help close the “homework gap” that many students currently face when they are at home and cannot complete homework assignments due to lack of availability of Internet access.
Specifically, “T-Mobile will also spend at least $5 million dollars plus any unredeemed funds from the consumer benefit program, to address the homework gap in low-income school districts. T-Mobile will work with eligible public schools to purchase devices that students may take home and use for school work, and provide mobile broadband to those devices at no cost to the students or their families. T-Mobile will implement the program in October 2017, and enroll 5,000 students per quarter, for a total of at least 80,000 students during the program’s four year term, provided that funds are available…”
The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau News Release can be viewed here
The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau Consent Decree can be viewed here
