FCC Eliminates Funding for Bus Wi-Fi, Hotspots for FY 2025 and Beyond

With Commissioner Anna Gomez dissenting, the FCC voted 2-1 on September 30 at the Commission’s monthly meeting to remove the eligibility of bus Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi hotspots outside of a school or library building from the E-Rate program.

The change took effect immediately for the current funding year, which began on July 1, 2025.

School bus Wi-Fi has been eligible since FY 2024. In a declaratory ruling, the Commission found that the “best reading” of Section 254 of the Communications Act was that Wi-Fi on school buses does not serve an educational purpose, as required by the statute and program rules, and conflicts with the statute’s focus on serving school and library buildings and classrooms. The Commission directed USAC to deny all pending FY 2025 applications.

The Commission clarified that it did not intend to apply the decision retroactively to applications for funding for bus Wi-Fi that was previously requested and granted for FY 2024. The Commission stated that its decision was consistent with its longstanding principle that there is no guarantee of funding when applicants have signed a multiyear contract, noting that “inclusion of a service in the annual eligible services list does not guarantee that an applicant will receive a funding commitment for that service” in any given year.

The Commissioners each released separate statements: Chairman Carr, Commissioner Gomez, Commissioner Trusty.

Wi-Fi hotspots’ eligibility was new to the ESL for FY 2025. The Commission’s Order on Reconsideration adopted at the Commission’s meeting reversed the FCC’s 2024 decision to fund Wi-Fi hotspots. The Commission found that off-premises use of Wi-Fi hotspots and associated wireless Internet services does not constitute an “educational purpose” under the Communications Act and took it off the ESL for FY 2025. As it did with the bus Wi-Fi, the Commission directed USAC to deny funding requests for FY 2025.

To effectuate these orders, the Commission directed the Wireline Competition Bureau to issue an amended Eligible Services List (ESL) for FY 2025. This unprecedented action by the FCC means that applicants that applied for funding for these services for the current FY 2025 will receive denial letters for their funding requests.

The Commission also released a draft ESL for FY 2026 that removed the services’ eligibility for next year.