In Funding Year 2018, requests for Ethernet services represented 56% of the total Category One demand. Funds For Learning will be conducting a free webinar on April 25, 2018, to share all of our thoughts and analysis. The webinar is open to the public and you can register now. Below are a few initial observations:
Compared to Funding Year 2016, around 2,200 more applicants requested discounts on Ethernet service, yet the total pre-discount cost of Ethernet service was approximately $21M less. In addition, approximately 1,500 fewer applicants requested support for copper-based technologies than in FY2016.
Looking beyond Ethernet, in total around 1,500 more applicants requested discounts for fiber connectivity (of any type) as compared to FY2016, while total pre-discount cost of all types fiber connectivity dropped approximately $89M.
In Funding Year 2018, 75% of individual school sites in the country reported some type of fiber connectivity, compared to only 11% for copper.
