Comcast Monday kicked off the second year of
its Internet Essentials broadband adoption program at an event at Kramer Middle School in Washington, D.C.
That
comes a year after the company launched the program in the city at an event at Ballou High School.
Internet Essentials is Comcast's program to provide low-cost ($9.95 a month)
broadband to homes with students eligible for free and low-cost school lunch
programs for as long as the children are in the home, as well as training and
access to reduced-price computers .
At
the event Monday, according to Comcast, executive VP David Cohen praised
legislators, schools and community groups for helping make the program a
success. The program received praise from D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray. "In our
ultra-competitive world, it is essential that families have access to the
Internet," Mayor Gray said, according to the cable operator. "Reliable broadband
access helps our children become stronger students and prepares them for an
increasingly interconnected world. I am proud of the work we have done to help
close the digital divide in Washington, D.C., but there is still
much more to be done."
More
than 100,000 families including 2,000 in the D.C. area have taken Comcast up on
its offer low-cost broadband.
Since
the program's launch, says Comcast, there have been a number of enhancements,
including expanding eligibility, doubling broadband speeds, boosted digital
literacy training, and streamlining the approval process.
Comcast
will continue the offer through the end of the 2013-2014 school year and the
discount will continue to be available to participating families so long as
they continue to have an eligible student in the household.
Cohen
was scheduled to join FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, who attended the Ballou High School event last year, at a
forum in D.C. Monday afternoon on broadband connectivity, sponsored by Comcast
and the Joint Center for Political and
Economic Studies.
Last
November, the FCC teamed with cable operators on an adoption program modeled onthe Comcast effort.
