Virtually all U.S. schools either are, or will be, running into severe bottleneck problems with their external network connections due to increased bandwidth demands. New curricula, web-based learning, teacher credentials and heightened security require bandwidth intensive applications.Based on location, population density and demographics, tens of thousands of schools in the United States are not likely to gain access to affordable, last-mile fiber connections.Wireless wide area network services, eligible for E-rate funding, fill this “digital divide”.

Conterra Ultra Broadband: Report to Congress 2005