Demand for E-rate funding continues to grow across the country, with the most growth coming from Rural and Rural Remote applicants, reported Funds For Learning in its analysis of all Funding Year (FY) 2014 E-rate applications submitted by schools and school districts.
The analysis reveals requests for proposals for Internet access and Wide Area Networks services have continued to shift to higher broadband speeds. The number of unique participating vendors, which were listed on applications for internal connections and maintenance, has continued to drop, which suggests less competition in that space.
On May 15, 2014, USAC released the first FY 2014 funding wave. Of 10,134 applicants, 38 percent received funding decision letters. In all, $607.3 million in telecommunications and Internet access discounts was committed. USAC also issued denials totaling $22.8 million.
The complete analysis is available in a recent whitepaper from Funds For Learning.
