T-Mobile has partnered with the Tennessee Department of Education to provide internet access to school districts throughout the state. The five-year partnership, T-Mobile Tech for TN Students, was announced today and will provide over 200,000 student connectivity devices, or mobile Wi-Fi hotspot devices directly to families at no cost.

This is in line with T-Mobile’s Project 10Million initiative. Each participating district will have three tiers of service to choose from, coming with 100GB of data per device per year for free.  

Commissioner Penny Schwinn shared: 

“As our school districts have navigated through a global health pandemic over the past year, we know access to technology and the internet remains an issue for many students.”

Schwinn also shared that they are grateful for T-Mobile for launching this “nationwide initiative”. 

Part of the commitment of the partnership will be to provide over 40,000 additional devices from T-Mobile over the next five years. T-Mobile will distribute these devices directly to districts, depending on economic factors such as Title 1 schools, National School Lunch Program eligibility rates, and distressed county designations. Districts can complete an online application and contract in order to participate in the program. 

The three tiers of service that will be available include the following options:

• Free – up to 100GB per year per device

• $12/month – up to 100GB per month per device

• $15/month – unlimited data per device

During the pandemic, the department has been able to provide multiple districts with resources and technology funding. This includes $50 million in device funding grants and $15 million for districts to pursue connectivity options for its students. 

You can read more about this initiative here.

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