Hotspot Program

Important Update - 10/1/2025

At their September 30, 2025 Open Meeting, the current Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided to end the E-Rate program to support off-premises hotspot lending program immediately, directing USAC to deny all funding requests for the current funding year. The full order of the FCC is available online, if you are interested in the details.

Any existing funding requests in the E-Rate system will be denied automatically by USAC in the near future. As of October 1, the timing of and manner of those denials are still to be determined, but libraries should prepare for them now:

• You should re-read your contracts to see how the vendor addressed termination or alteration of the E-Rate program in their terms.
  • Per the OPLIN Form 470 RFP, vendors were supposed to "Provide details for optional continuation or termination of the contract, in the event that the FCC Off-premises Wi-Fi Hotspot Program is either terminated or significantly altered before June 30, 2028."
• You should reach out to your vendor now if you need to change the quantities of devices or service lines, based on the elimination of E-Rate funding.

As always, please contact OPLIN if you have any questions.

Original FY2025 Filing Information - Fall 2024

The E-rate Hotspot Program has developed from the FCC's Learn without Limits initiative and the lessons learned from the Emergency Connectivity Program. For a good, library-focused overview of the program, check out ALA's Learn Without Limits information page. ALA has also developed a library-focused FAQ on the hotspot program.

For all of the details from the FCC, you can read the full Report and Order, which includes federal program rules.

There are currently eLearning Modules available from USAC, the E-rate program administrators. Check out these two sections of Module 2 in particular:

• C1: Wi-Fi Hotspots for Off Premises Use (Data Transmission)
• C1: Wi-Fi Hotspots for Off Premises Use (Equipment)

For your consideration, OPLIN has requested consortia bids for the FY2025 E-Rate Hotspot Program. The full RFP can be found here. The allowable contract date for this Form 470 has passed, and we have received bids from these three vendors:

• AT&T
• Kajeet, as distributed by CDWG
• T-Mobile

To use these bids, first determine your bid evaluation criteria; the selected bid must be the most cost-effective bid, and price must be the most heavily weighted factor. Then you may contact the vendor to request a contract for your local library. The contact information for each vendor is as follows:

If you choose to use one of the OPLIN consortia bids to file a Form 471, please make sure to reference OPLIN's Form 470 #250006641.

Wednesday, March 26 is  the last day to file an FCC Form 471 for the FY2025 application filing window.

Need help filing your Form 471? Check out Lorrie Germann's training video, or her handout (especially pages 12-29 and 78-99), or contact Christine Morris to schedule a one-on-one filing session.

Questions? Contact OPLIN Support.