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Sprint gives free products to a million low income students

Oct 12 2016

Sprint Gives High School Students a Million Free Devices So What's the Catch

Claure said the "homework gap" includes some five million school-aged students - many in low-income households - who lack access to the Internet at home. Phones, laptops, hot spot devices, and tablets will be distributed to a million high school students, and Sprint and the Sprint Foundation will work with partners to decide the "best device solution".

Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure says the goal is to complete distribution within five years.

In partnership with non-profit agencies like EveryoneOn and My Brother's Keeper, Sprint will provide qualifying students with a free smartphone, tablet, laptop or hotspot device and 3GB of high-speed LTE data per month for a period of up to four years while in high school. Moreover, the Federal Communications Commission's Broadband Task Force found that 70 percent of teachers assign their students homework that requires Internet access.

"We're doing this because we want to help the students but we also believe that this initiative is going to help our country", Claure said on a call with reporters on Tuesday. But it's a huge problem in America that we have 5 million households with children that lack internet connections. "Students lacking home Internet access are cut off from a future of possibilities".

Sprint isn't the only company looking to bring connectivity to low-income families.

About 1 million high school students could receive a free broadband-enabled device and free Internet through Sprint's network as part of a joint program between Sprint and the White House.

Sprint said the devices used in the giveaway will come from a combination of donations from device manufacturers, fundraisers, donation drives and "other activities".

Tovar says Sprint expects nearly all of the devices for the program to be donated from the manufacturers. Claure also said there will be plenty of room on Sprint's network for the new users. It will begin as a pilot program in January 2017 in seven to 10 cities, and will roll out nationally when the 2017 to 2018 school year begins.


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