SLD Releases Yr 8 (2005-2006) Demand Level to FCC
~ First Wave to Arrive in May ~
Message Posted April 25, 2005
Last week the SLD released their demand estimates for Year 8, Funding Year 2005, and for the third straight year, demand is down from the previous year. Demand for Yr 8 totals $3.65 billion, although this figure is likely to be reduced as applications are denied and duplicate requests are
eliminated. The Yr 5 demand was $5.7 billion, Yr 6 demand was $4.7 billion,
and Yr 7 demand was $4.278 billion. This figure, although promising, is
still well over the annual cap of $2.25 billion. Based on prior years'
demand, this figure likely indicates that Year 8 internal connections
funding will reach below 80%.
The basic breakdown by service category, showing a total drop in each compared with Yr 8 (2004), is provided below. A more detailed breakdown of the SLD’s demand estimates for Yr 8 is available at http://www.sl.universalservice.org/data/pdf/2005SLDemand_Breakdown.pdf.
Yr 8 (2005) Yr 7 (2004)
Telecommunications $1,217,058,964 $1,273,840,843
Internet Access 347,534,893 326,703,020
Internal Connections 1,842,927,864 2,677,816,964
Basic Maint on Internal Conn 240,065,890 not applicable
Total Initial Demand 3,647,587,611 4,278,360,828
A few observations:
1) The demand for Priority 1 services is almost unchanged, which is
surprising because of the large numbers of high-bandwidth WANs that are
being requested.
2) The most surprising change came in priority 2 services, which declined by 22%. The biggest decline in a single priority 2 category, came from the 90% discount band. Most E-rate veterans thought that the threat to changes in the discount matrix would increase the demand for priority 2 requests. The decline in demand may be due to deliberate planning to align future purchases with the new 2/5 rule which states that individual buildings can only receive E-rate support for internal connections two out of every five years, or due to the fact that maybe the 90% schools have fulfilled their needs for network wiring and equipment.
I anticipate the first funding wave will be mailed sometime in May. As always, I'll send an advance notice to you the week prior.
Julie Tritt Schell
jtschell@comcast.net
(717) 730.7133 (voice)
(717) 730.9060 (fax)
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