Mission Telecom to Maintain E-Rate Prices for Off-Campus Wi-Fi After FCC Withdraws Support

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15, 2025 – A federal decision to scrap funding for school bus Wi-Fi and hotspot programs created a $27.5 million shortfall for schools and libraries. Now, one nonprofit broadband provider has stepped in to fill that deficit.

The nonprofit, Mission Telecom, announced Tuesday that it will provide unlimited 4G/5G broadband for the roughly 1,280 institutions affected at the same rate they would have paid after their E-Rate discount. The offer guarantees service through June 2026, with no contracts, activation, or termination fees.

The move followed the Federal Communications Commission’s vote on Sept. 30 to revise its eligible services list and remove E-Rate support for mobile hotspots and school bus connectivity.

“Just two weeks ago, the FCC made the unfortunate decision to end E-Rate support for school bus Wi-Fi and mobile hotspots,” said Mark Colwell, director of broadband operations at Mission Telecom. “By matching their subsidized E-Rate costs, we are helping provide affordable, reliable broadband so that every student and lifelong learner can stay connected.”

American Library Association President Sam Helmick, who warned that the FCC’s vote would leave libraries “pull[ing] funding from other programs to pay for contracts with service providers,” called Mission’s initiative “a vital stopgap” for small and rural libraries.

“Many libraries [were] approved for E-Rate hotspot funding in FY 2025, only to have it snatched away retroactively by the FCC,” Helmick said Tuesday. “Mission Telecom's offer will protect services that would otherwise be cut. We are deeply appreciative that an internet service provider is stepping up to fill the gap left by the FCC.”

To qualify for Mission Telecom’s new offer, schools and libraries need to complete a sign-up form and subsequently provide a copy of their E-Rate Form 471 for hotspots or bus Wi-Fi. Mission Telecom will then match their post-discount cost for broadband, guaranteeing unlimited 4G/5G Wi-Fi service at the same rate they would have paid under E-Rate.

Michael Flood, founder of North Carolina–based consultancy Alpine Frog LLC, helped catalyze Mission’s plan. A 25-year telecom veteran who previously built and led the education division at Kajeet, Flood has spent much of his career helping school districts and libraries design E-Rate eligible broadband programs.

In an interview with Broadband Breakfast, Flood said he hoped Mission’s offer would inspire others to follow suit: “Hopefully this lights a fire for more carriers and hardware providers to step up. Schools and libraries shouldn’t have to choose between internet access and other essential services.”

The off-campus Wi-Fi issue traces back to the FCC’s E-Rate modernization under former Democratic Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, a Biden appointee who extended program eligibility following the pandemic.

In 2023, the agency expanded its E-Rate program, which spends about $2 billion annually on internet discounts to schools and libraries, to fund Wi-Fi access on school buses. And in July 2024, the FCC cleared the way for libraries to request funding for Wi-Fi hotspots that patrons could check out and use off campus.

Current FCC Chairman Brendan Carr opposed both expansions of the program. He has maintained that the FCC lacks statutory authority under Section 254 of the Communications Act to fund off-campus hotspots or school-bus Wi-Fi.

That authority came under fire again early in 2025 when Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced a Congressional Review Act resolution to overturn the expansion. The CRA resolution passed the Senate in May on a 53–47 vote, with a companion bill introduced in the House by Rep. Russ Fulcher, R-Idaho.

However, more than 80 organizations urged the House not to advance the CRA resolution, warning it would permanently bar the FCC from funding certain off campus Wi-Fi initiatives for schools and libraries.

When House lawmakers didn’t act before the CRA’s eligibility window expired, Carr moved to roll back the eligibility himself, pushing through a Sept. 30 vote to eliminate both expansions of the program. 

The E-Rate items were late additions to the FCC’s September agenda and drafts weren’t posted publicly – a move Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez criticized as lacking oversight and transparency.

The FCC’s decision not only ended funding for school bus and hotspot programs going forward but applied to the start of funding year 2025, running from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026. The retroactive nature of the FCC’s vote means many schools and libraries are now bound by service contracts they expected to be federally subsidized.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the number of schools and libraries affected by the FCC’s rollback of E-Rate support. The correct figure is approximately 1,280 schools and libraries.