(explosion)
- Hi everyone, Mike Sievert here.
I'm coming to you from our
Bellevue, Washington headquarters
and I've got some important
un-carrier news to share.
You know, I love un-carrier days,
and I'm especially proud of what I'm here
to talk to you about today,
the official launch of
T-Mobile's Project 10Million.
That's our unprecedented
$10.7 billion initiative
to address the homework
gap in this country
by getting free internet connectivity
into the hands of millions of students,
the ones who need it most.
And I'm also announcing that in response
to the fact that many kids
are schooling from home
as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,
we've decided to enhance our
Project 10Million program
in significant ways.
We first announced Project
10Million back in November
of last year, in
anticipation of our upcoming
merger with Sprint.
We said once our merger was complete,
we'd be the supercharged un-carrier,
and not just be a bigger company,
but a better one.
And we're already using
our combined talent
and assets to double
down on our commitment
to being a company for good, with programs
like Connecting Heroes,
which offers to connect
virtually all of our
nation's first responders
with 5G for free.
And today, we're gonna do it again.
This time, for underconnected
school kids nationwide.
Just like every un-carrier move,
Project 10Million is
focused on eliminating
a huge pain point.
As I said, this one's
called the homework gap.
Did you know that more than nine million
of America's 56 million
K through 12 students
have zero access to
reliable internet at home?
And that's a real issue,
when seven out of 10 teachers
regularly assign online homework
to finish after school.
And most after hours
communication with teachers
and peers is done online.
Everyone says education
is the great leveler,
but students without internet access
get lower grades, and lower test scores,
and as a result, they're seeing
doors to opportunity close
right in front of them, and
through no fault of their own.
The homework gap in today's
world is unacceptable,
and we knew we needed to
do something about it.
Now, as a combined company, T-Mobile's
the supercharged un-carrier,
and we finally have the resources
and network capacity that we need
to take on a goal as
big and as bold as this,
to help connect every single child
who's facing the homework gap,
and completely eradicate it.
And we're starting with
Project 10Million today.
We're already working
with school districts
across the country to
provide eligible students
with free wireless hotspots,
free high speed data,
and access to at-cost laptops and tablets.
But we knew we couldn't stop there.
And especially as the
COVID-19 pandemic has changed
how school looks, a lot, and as a result,
we have a new massive pain
point right in front of us.
Classroom learning
continues to shift online,
and now, the need for internet
connectivity is growing.
It's a problem T-Mobile's been working on
closely with schools,
and state governments,
and technology partners
since the pandemic started.
In fact, since March 2020, we've connected
1.6 million kids with free,
or highly subsidized service,
across 3,100 school districts,
kids who needed internet access at home,
in order to participate fully in school.
But now, with the start of the school year
and 50 million students
expected to be doing
at least some portion of school remotely,
this issue's even bigger than
anyone could've predicted.
In this climate, students without reliable
internet connectivity
face a total disconnect
from their virtual classroom.
They'll be completely unable
to participate in school.
What was the homework gap has turned into
an even more pressing schoolwork gap.
Researchers have already predicted
what they call the COVID slide.
They say that students with poor
or no connectivity could
lose up to 14 months
of learning over time,
compared to their peers
with internet access.
This isn't right, and
today, we're gonna tackle
this massive inequity head on.
But before I give you more of the details
on our program, I want you to hear
from the experts about why this problem
is so important, including T-Mobile's own
Dr. Kiesha Taylor, who
before joining our team,
spent more than a decade as an educator
and respected district administrator.
Watch this.
(gentle music)
- We know that access to education
is access to opportunity.
If a traditional school day
is 100% remote learning,
and a student doesn't
have mobile connectivity,
how can they access their class?
(typewriter clicking)
(gentle music)
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Today, because of COVID-19,
the schoolwork gap
has never been greater.
Students that don't have
access to the internet
are really at a disadvantage.
- They can't keep up.
If young people don't have the access,
they'll fall through the cracks.
- It's heartbreaking, it's sad,
because it doesn't need to be.
- Think about the
students that need access
all over the country right now.
There's a huge difference
between the students
who have the access, and
the students who don't.
Connectivity is now something
that students have to have
in order to be successful.
(typewriter clicking)
(typewriter clicking)
(typewriter clicking)
(gentle music)
- These are significant issues
that are only getting
worse, and now's the time
to address them.
As millions of students are now learning
outside the physical classroom,
there's now a much greater need
for more access, and more data.
We heard loud and clear
that schools needed
more flexibility to pick the best option
for their students.
So as the un-carrier
always does, we listened,
and we built a program
that delivers just that.
I am incredibly proud of
this program expansion,
and I'm proud of all the work
this team's doing already,
to make a real difference for students
all across the country.
Mike Katz leads our education team,
and I've asked him to jump in here
to talk about the work we're already doing
to connect with schools and
deliver on all of the benefits
of Project 10Million.
Mike.
- Even before COVID-19,
our teams helped solve
the homework gap for
half a million students,
a huge accomplishment.
And the work we've done
during the pandemic
has been some of the most rewarding
and proud moments of my
20-year career at T-Mobile.
More than 1.6 million students connected
by T-Mobile broadband, just
over the last six months,
and just in New York alone,
T-Mobile's helping more
than 350,000 students with iPads and data
as they start their virtual classes.
We've also partnered with
California Department of Education
and Apple, to connect
another million students
as they go back to school
and start virtual learning.
We've talked with thousands
of school districts,
and we've consistently heard
that they face unique challenges.
As we worked with them to find solutions,
we saw tremendous opportunity
to evolve Project 10Million
to deliver exactly what they
asked for, more flexibility.
And that's how this expanded
Project 10Million was born.
As promised, every district
gets free wireless hotspots
and access to at-cost laptops and tablets,
all still free for students.
But we added a really cool new
option for school districts,
they all still get the
benefit of our free program,
valued right at about $500
per student household,
and if they decide their students need it,
they have the option
of applying that value
to two additional plans
that include more data.
The goal's to address increased need
for bandwidth at schools,
as they move into
a fully virtual environment.
One new plan offers 100
gigabytes per month,
and that's about triple the amount of data
that we saw used by
students in the spring,
at the start of the pandemic.
And we're offering an
unlimited option too,
and it all starts today.
So if you're a school administrator,
or a parent interested in this program
for your child's school,
visit T-Mobile.com/P10M
to get all the information you need
about how your school
district can connect with us.
I am so excited about
how Project 10Million
is gonna continue connecting
even more students
this school year, and meaningfully close
the digital divide for years to come.
I could go on and on, but
I'll hand it back over
to Mike Sievert to give
you the final word.
- Let me just finish by saying,
I am really proud of everything
that T-Mobile's doing to
get students connected.
We're tackling this because it's big,
and because it's important.
Project 10Million is all about what's best
for students and educators.
And I have no doubt that it's gonna have
a huge impact on America's future.
Where you live shouldn't determine
where you go in life,
and your family's income
shouldn't determine your outcome.
Education's the great
leveler, but in today's world,
connectivity is required in order for us
to aspire to have equitable
opportunities for everyone.
Through Project 10Million,
students across the US,
from urban cities, to rural America,
can benefit from the reach
and expanded capacity
of our nationwide network, with reliable
and dependable service, and they'll get
all these benefits for free,
through an unprecedented
multi-billion dollar
commitment from T-Mobile.
It's this simple, access to the internet
means access to
opportunity, and we believe
every single child deserves access
to that opportunity.
Now through Project 10Million,
T-Mobile is opening the
door to a brighter future
for all of them.
Thanks for listening and stay safe.
