Sprint pilot project will offer free mobile devices to students

Kansas City students will be among the first to participate in the Sprint Foundation's 1Million Project, helping close the "homework gap" for low-income students. Sprint Corp announced the first 11 cities to participate in its pilot program Dec 12, as part of a five-year goal to provide free devices and Internet connectivity to 1,000,000 US high school students.

The pilot will launch in January, providing free devices and high-speed wireless to about 4,000 students across 11 locations, including 500 students in Kansas City Public Schools. After the pilot program ends, schools will be able to apply for the program for its nationwide rollout in the 2017-2018 school year. Participating students will receive a free smartphone, tablet or hotspot device with three gigabytes of high-speed LTE data per month and unlimited texting. Students will be able to keep the devices for up to four years, until they graduate.