Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure on Tuesday said the carrier is planning to give free phones and wireless service to one million disadvantaged high school students.
According to Claure, Sprint will distribute a mix of phones, tablets laptops and hotspots to U.S. high school students over the next five years based on their needs. Students who receive a free device will get free talk, text and 3 GB of high-speed data from Sprint, Claure said. Unlimited data at 2G speeds will be offered beyond the high-speed limit, Sprint said.
Sprint said the giveaway is part of The 1 Million Project, an initiative aimed at closing the “homework gap” by offering free wireless connectivity to one million low-income high school students in the United States. 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.
By providing up to four years of wireless Internet access, Claure said Sprint is hoping to help close that digital divide.
“Education is the foundation for our society to prosper, and the internet is an incredibly powerful tool for learning. But it’s a huge problem in America that we have 5 million households with children that lack internet connections. Those kids have a huge disadvantage and we are failing them,” Claure said in a statement. “Through our participation in ConnectED, we heard loud and clear that students need devices and internet access to complete their homework. Sprint’s 1Million Project is an end-to-end solution that enables 1 million low-income youth to keep learning after they leave the classroom.”
The effort appears to build on Sprint’s previous 2014 commitment to deliver wireless broadband to 50,000 students in low-income school districts. Sprint said the new campaign was inspired by President Obama’s ConnectED and My Brother’s Keeper initiatives.
Sprint said the devices used in the giveaway will come from a combination of donations from device manufacturers, fundraisers, donation drives and “other activities.” Distribution will be achieved through partnerships with EveryoneOn and My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, which will help recruit community organizations to deliver the devices and activate service for participating students.
According to Claure, the retail cost of the devices and service to be used in the program would be more than $2 billion, but Sprint said the overall cost of the project to the carrier will not be substantial. Claure also said there will be plenty of room on Sprint’s network for the new users.
Sprint said a program pilot will launch in January in seven to 10 markets with a nationwide rollout to follow in time for the start of the 2017-2018 school year.
