NACEPF HISTORY
In 1989, NACEPF was founded by John Primeau to provide educational and religious programming to schools, hospitals, and other nonprofit organizations. NACEPF received licenses from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 51 markets on frequencies reserved by the FCC for educational use. These frequencies were initially designated as "Instructional Television Fixed Services" (ITFS).
NACEPF provided free, full-semester distance-learning courses over its ITFS channels to schools in its FCC-licensed markets. Our founder’s strategy was to develop content that would supplement and enrich a school’s curriculum, not replace a subject or curriculum that was likely already offered. For example, knowing that not all schools had a foreign language instructor, NACEPF developed 12 full-semester courses in six foreign languages: French, Russian, German, Spanish, Japanese, and Latin. Today, we continue to offer 20 full-semester distance learning courses free of charge to public, private, parochial, and charter schools across the United States.
In 2005, the FCC revised the rules governing ITFS spectrum so the spectrum could not only be used for video-based instructional programming, but also to deliver cellular and wireless broadband services. As part of these revisions, the FCC renamed ITFS to "Educational Broadband Service" (EBS).
Our founder believed in the transformative effect these changes would have in shaping the educational landscape. In 2006, he negotiated a landmark contract with Clearwire, the first 4G wireless service provider in the United States. This agreement:
To bring this vision to life, Clearwire first needed to build its 4G national network, a process that took several years. In 2010, NACEPF created Mobile Beacon, a wholly-owned subsidiary that provides NACEPF’s broadband service to the education and nonprofit sectors throughout the United States. Today, this has grown to the largest EBS deployment in history, supporting the work of schools, libraries, nonprofits, and other anchor institutions that provide vital resources to more than 425,000 Americans every day.
NACEPF provided free, full-semester distance-learning courses over its ITFS channels to schools in its FCC-licensed markets. Our founder’s strategy was to develop content that would supplement and enrich a school’s curriculum, not replace a subject or curriculum that was likely already offered. For example, knowing that not all schools had a foreign language instructor, NACEPF developed 12 full-semester courses in six foreign languages: French, Russian, German, Spanish, Japanese, and Latin. Today, we continue to offer 20 full-semester distance learning courses free of charge to public, private, parochial, and charter schools across the United States.
In 2005, the FCC revised the rules governing ITFS spectrum so the spectrum could not only be used for video-based instructional programming, but also to deliver cellular and wireless broadband services. As part of these revisions, the FCC renamed ITFS to "Educational Broadband Service" (EBS).
Our founder believed in the transformative effect these changes would have in shaping the educational landscape. In 2006, he negotiated a landmark contract with Clearwire, the first 4G wireless service provider in the United States. This agreement:
- Enabled NACEPF to provide broadband service not only in its FCC-licensed markets, but throughout the United States.
- Expanded NACEPF’s reach from traditional schools and institutions of higher education to a broad base of anchor institutions, including libraries, museums, after-school centers, nonprofits, housing authorities, hospitals and health clinics, and senior centers.
To bring this vision to life, Clearwire first needed to build its 4G national network, a process that took several years. In 2010, NACEPF created Mobile Beacon, a wholly-owned subsidiary that provides NACEPF’s broadband service to the education and nonprofit sectors throughout the United States. Today, this has grown to the largest EBS deployment in history, supporting the work of schools, libraries, nonprofits, and other anchor institutions that provide vital resources to more than 425,000 Americans every day.