Under pressure from members of Congress who reacted to the wave of new surcharges by carriers-first on corporate users' voice and data services and sub-sequently on residential telephone bills- the Federal Communications Commission at its meeting of June 12, 1998, scaled back the E-rate program. It froze collections from carriers at the current $325 million per quarter, extended the start-up phase over 18 months, and prioritized internal connections to the neediest applicants. All applicants eligible for a 90 percent discount should receive full funding for internal connections, and those eligible for discounts of 80 to 89 percent probably will as well. All approved applicants will receive discounts on telecommunications and Internet services for 18 months.
As of early May, the FCC reported that over 30,000 libraries had requested a total of $1.944 billion ($1.2 billion for cabling, $656 million for telecommunications services, and $88 million for Internet services). The amount available for the first 12 months is $l.275 billion, and for the first 18 months, $1.9 billion.
