The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau is seeking comment on petitions to permit the use of E-Rate funding for advanced or next-generation firewalls and other network security services. Currently, E-Rate program funding may be used for basic firewall services; however, the Commission has declined to extend basic firewall services to include anti-virus and anti-spam software, intrusion protection and intrusion prevention devices, and other services that protect networks. The Commission also removed virtual private networks (VPN) and other data protection services from the E-Rate eligible services list. Given that schools have increased use of broadband networks to provide remote learning to students during the COVID-19 pandemic, several E-Rate stakeholders submitted petitions requesting that the Commission reconsider the eligibility of such services. Comments are due February 13 and reply comments are due March 30.
