This year saw several big changes made to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) E-rate program, according to Ronald Sheps, Public Sector Programs (Government, Education, Medicine) for Westcon-Comstor. Sheps, along with Dennis Robins, Cisco Public Funding Advisor, will be hosting a webinar about all of the most important changes to the E-rate program and its processes – E-Rate, What’s New in 2017? – at 2 p.m. ET, Wednesday, January 18, 2017.
Sheps and Robins will help you understand the current E-rate program, as well as the funding landscape and how to position your Comstor/Cisco business to capitalize on E-rate opportunities.
As Sheps explained to Comstor last year, there was a concerted effort by the FCC to move E-rate funding away from Category One “dial tone” funding. The maximum discount for voice services has been dropping for several years and will be eliminated in FY2018. That means that schools and libraries now have only 24 months to migrate.
In addition to discussing Category One during the one-hour webinar, Sheps and Robins will discuss E-rate cloud mandates, updates, the status of Program Year 2017 (Year 20) funding, as well as the latest FCC/USAC announcements that could affect E-rate. Other featured topics include:
· E-rate review, including product/service eligibility, program procurement and compliance rules and the applicant procurement process.
· Integration of Cisco products and programs with E-rate, including a look at Learn without Limits for K-12 education.
· Review of new USAC.org/sl website and the E-rate Productivity Center
Register for E-rate, What’s New in 2017? here.
