Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) has announced plans to continue providing its free internet to Internet Essential customers, as well as new customers, and the extension will run for the rest of the year.
The company had initially planned to provide the free internet for 60 days which would have ended on July 30. However, Comcast has announced that the offer will remain active for eligible Internet Essential users for the rest of the year. However, the telecommunications services provider will require users to avoid having a previous balance if they wish to qualify for the offer.
“For almost a decade, Comcast has been helping to level the playing field for families in need so they can benefit from all the Internet has to offer,” stated Dana Strong, the president of Comcast’s Xfinity Consumer Services.
The company’s Internet Essentials program has served over 2 million low-income families for almost a decade. More than 8 million people are currently enrolled in the program. It has a particular focus on helping school children by allowing them to affordably access to digital education opportunities. It makes this possible by providing high-speed internet at an affordable price of $9.95 per month with free access to digital training, especially in print. It has been quite useful especially at a time like now when school children are trying to study from home due to the coronavirus.
The offer extension will also apply for the Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspots
Comcast also revealed that it plans to extend the free internet offer to its Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspots, of which there are around 1.5 million of them in the U.S. The extended offer will also run until the end of 2020. Comcast revealed that it experienced a massive spike in internet usage as soon as it opened the public hotspots. The company also added that it plans to keep the public hotspots open until the end of 2020 as the country slowly eases off lockdown.
Comcast was one of the internet providers in the U.S that that heeded to the Federal Communications Commission’s call earlier in March, to keep the country connected. The coronavirus may have brought about the mandatory stay-at-home directives but there was still a need to ensure that people kept in touch with their loved ones and with school and work.
