WASHINGTON-A House panel Monday said its probe of a government program that subsidizes Internet connections to schools and libraries has been expanded, with lawmakers requesting additional information from IBM Corp. Chief Executive Samuel Palmisano and Alpha Telecommunications Inc. President Paul Karas.
Letters to the two businessmen were signed by House Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) and Rep. James Greenwood (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations.
Education discounts for Internet links-the E-rate-were authorized in the 1996 telecom act. The program is run by the Universal Service Administration Co.
IBM, a top beneficiary of the E-rate program, offers wireless and wireline Internet access solutions to schools.
In recent years, the inspector general of the Federal Communications Commission has flagged the E-rate program as a possible hotbed for waste, fraud and abuse. Numerous audits and investigations of E-rate grants are in progress, some having been referred to the Justice Department. Last December, U.S. officials charged several New York men with using their firm to steal millions of dollars from E-rate.
