Shakeup In Phoning, Internet Costs  Schools, Libraries, Health-
care Providers In Rural Areas To Receive On-line Subsidies  May
08, 1997|By Frank James, Washington Bureau.  WASHINGTON — A
government agency Wednesday acted to increase the chances that
children in school districts that cannot readily afford access
to the Internet will still have a shot at using it.  The Federal
Communications Commission voted 4-0 to give the nation's public
and private schools a discount ranging from 20 percent to 90
percent, depending on their need, on the cost of wiring
classrooms to the vast on-line resources of the computer
network.  The plan, which resulted from collaboration between
the federal government and states, also would make discounts
available to some libraries and rural health-care providers.
The decision fulfilled part of the commission's mandate from
Congress to preserve and promote the access by all Americans to
telecommunications services.  The so-called universal-service
provisions of the Telecommunications