Bringing the Internet to Schools: US and EU policies

The Internet is changing rapidly the way people around the world communicate, learn, and work. Yet the tremendous benefits of the Internet are not shared equally by all. One way to close the gap of the ‘digital divide’ is to ensure Internet access to all schools from an early age. While both the USA and EU have embraced the promotion of Internet access to schools, the two have decided to finance it differently. This paper shows that the main costs of Internet access to schools are not communications-related (telecommunications and Internet services) but rather non-communicationsrelated (hardware, educational training, software). This paper goes on to discuss whether the identified costs should be financed in any way by the universal service obligations funded by the telecommunications industry/sector/consumers (sector specific) or a general governmental budget (educational budget). Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Mark Scanlan, Don Stockdale, and Howard Williams for their comments. The author takes full responsibility for any errors. The views expressed are strictly personal and are not necessarily shared by the Organisation to which the author belongs. Prepared for delivery at the 2001 TPRC Meeting, October 27-29, 2001, Alexandria, VA, USA (TPRC-2001-076). Michelle S. Kosmidis Bringing the Internet to Schools