Sprint's One Million Project

The 1Million Project is a multiyear initiative to offer free mobile devices and free high-speed wireless internet connectivity to 1 million low-income, U.S. high school students lacking a reliable source of internet access at home. The Sprint Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Sprint, the American telecommunications company, created the initiatives. Sprint’s CEO Marcelo Claure announced the initiative in a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, Oct 11.

In the announcement Claure said, “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. All of us at Sprint are committed to changing this by providing 1 million students in need with free devices and free wireless connections.”

According to research done by the Pew Research Center, there are about 5 million U.S. families with school-aged children do not have broadband access at home. Their chances for success are significantly reduced because at least 70% of teachers assign homework that requires web access, based on a report by the Federal Communications Commission’s Broadband Task Force.

The program will help eliminate the “digital divide” that puts low-income students at a major disadvantage because they do not have access to the internet. The digital divide is an obstacle to parents also because many schools use an online grading system, requiring parents to rely on the internet to stay informed about their child’s academic progress. Sprint will work with non-profit agencies like ‘EveryoneOn’ and ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ to help recruit community organizations like schools, libraries, public-housing authorities, and non-profits.

Each student will receive 3GB of high-speed LTE data per month, for up to four years of service, and either a free smartphone, tablet, laptop or hotspot device. Unlimited data is available at 2G speeds if usage exceeds 3GB in a month. Those who receive a smartphone can use it as a hotspot and for unlimited domestic calls and texts while on the Sprint network.

The pilot program will start in January 2017 in seven to 10 markets. Community leaders in Joliet can sign up to join the pilot program at goodworks.sprint.com/1millionproject. The Sprint Foundation plans to rollout the initiative nationwide at the start of the 2017-18 school year.