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The wireless industry is
keeping America’s
students connected during
COVID-19.
As schools around the country work to mitigate the risk of coronavirus, wireless providers have quickly stepped up to make sure homebound children have the tools they need to participate in distance learning and stay engaged with their classmates and teachers from afar.
To date, the industry has helped connect 2.4 million students by providing free and discounted devices and data plans, as well as millions of dollars in donations and resources. Learn more about how the wireless industry is helping, and how we continue to partner with school districts and governments to keep kids connected.
The wireless industry has long partnered with schools to expand connectivity opportunities, particularly in underserved communities—in almost 1 in 5 households, the only internet connection is a smartphone. Since March 2020, the industry has intensified efforts to connect students.
Verizon’s Distance Learning Program offered discounted connectivity to more than 38 million students across 40 states and the District of Columbia as of September 2020.
Since February 2020, T-Mobile has connected more than 1.6 million students. Their Project 10Million is a $10.7 billion initiative to provide wireless hotspots, high-speed data and access to laptops and tablets, at-cost—or the equivalent value of ~$500 annually per student household.
AT&T is pledging $2B over the next three years to help close the digital divide through low-cost broadband offers, participation in the Emergency Broadband Benefit, community investment and initiatives such as AT&T Connected Learning which will help narrow the homework gap through digital solutions and connected learning centers in underserved communities across the country.
Wireless providers have worked with state and local governments and school districts across the country to connect America's students.
See Data by State
The wireless industry’s Connecting Kids Initiative is a new resource for schools and school districts to help keep kids learning in these unprecedented times.
CTIA launched the Connecting Kids Initiative to simplify the process for school districts to find remote learning hotspot solutions by connecting them with wireless operators working to provide broadband access to kids and families in their area.
School districts are encouraged to submit their connectivity needs, and CTIA will help connect them to participating carriers, including the three nationwide wireless operators and regional operators across the country.
School Districts
The submission must be from an official representative of a school district with responsibility for procuring and managing technology and connectivity solutions. We will share your request with participating wireless operators in your community that are working hard to connect kids and families. Please remember there may be other broadband options in your community beyond our participating carriers that could help address your needs as well. Carriers will follow-up with you directly if there is a good match. Please direct any questions to [email protected].
Parents and Teachers
Please reach out directly to your wireless provider to explore your options to enable hotspot-functionality on your smartphone or other wireless device to support remote learning. Please share this initiative with your school district, as we can only process requests from school districts.
During the pandemic, the wireless industry expanded and enhanced their existing education programs.
T-Mobile made 20 GB of data free per month to students who use their EmpowerED digital learning programs, which provide discounts on hotspots, laptops, tablets and other wirelessly enabled devices to students who may not have access to high-speed internet at home.
They also expanded the program to reach over 56,000 students during the ’20-21 school year—since its launch in 2012, 350,000 students have benefitted from the program’s mission to foster digital inclusion, by offering free devices, data access and STEM-focused lesson plans.
Qualified schools that were activating new data plans for school-issued tablets, 4G LTE-enabled laptops and hotspot devices received free service for 60 days.
Wireless hotspots are helping kids access school programs on a laptop, tablet or directly from the smartphone.
Nationally, over 29 million children are eligible for low-cost or free school lunches, a critical support system under threat with the closure of so many American schools. The wireless industry is doing our part to provide meals for students and their families in this time of need.
A $5 million dollar donation was made in support of No Kid Hungry Responds: Coronavirus, which will help feed low-income children who are impacted by school closings.
T-Mobile donated additional funds to help the organization’s quest to end hunger through relationships with manufacturers, retailers and other partners to collect and distribute healthy food that would otherwise go to waste.
$500,000 went directly to a local food bank that seeks to fill the food gap for residents caused by school closures and other COVID-related events.
Providers are also investing in educational programs and services that will help engage children in new forms of immersive, online learning.
AT&T is pledging $2B over the next three years to help close the digital divide through low-cost broadband offers, participation in the Emergency Broadband Benefit, community investment and initiatives such as AT&T Connected Learning which will help narrow the homework gap through digital solutions and connected learning centers in underserved communities across the country.
USCellular’s JASON Learning partnership allows students to explore STEM learning topics through their “Storm Sanctuary” module, which is available for free for students to download.
Verizon offered customers 60 days of free educational games and tools, including Quizlet, which helps students practice language, science, math and history skills; Bookful, which uses AR to create an immersive reading experience for children; Chegg, a study aid and Epic!, an accessible, safe, digital book library of over 40,000 titles.
CTIA developed a comprehensive tool to help educators and parents understand what wireless services and products are available and to help kids use them appropriately, safely and securely at Growing Wireless.
The industry also knows how hard teachers are working to adapt their lesson plans to distance learning and keep their students engaged and we’re supporting them by offering new tools and services to make the transition easier.
Verizon Innovative Learning’s Teacher Training Pathways program provides opportunities to earn micro-credentials with Digital Promise, an organization committed to accelerating innovation in education.
This coalition is an online resource center to give teachers the help they need to navigate this new digital learning environment.
Over two million kids—including some of the most at-risk populations—have the internet connectivity necessary for their learning needs thanks to wireless hotspots. Read the full report to learn more about how the U.S. wireless industry is working with forward-thinking educational leaders to connect America’s children to the educational resources they need.
Download the Report
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