ZapMe, a high-tech firm that promised free computers and high speed Internet access to 15,000 schools around the nation, may begin charging schools for equipment and services due to the company's sagging revenues.

ZapMe originally planned to offset the costs of free service to schools by allowing advertisements on students’ computer screens –- an idea that was criticized by observers who said the program created too much commercialism in schools, the New York Times reports.

About 2,000 schools have already received equipment, but an e-mail sent last week by a ZapMe employee to at least one school states that, beginning in February, the company will charge fees for the service. The fees are scheduled to be announced this month, the Times reports.

The announcement has school administrators at Plainfield High School in Connecticut -- which received the e-mail notice -- wondering what to do next. Plainfield, one of the poorest schools in the state, has spent $4,000 to set up a computer lab as part of the ZapMe program.

Other participating schools around the country report they have not heard from ZapMe about its plans.

Lance Mortensen, ZapMe's founder and CEO, said the e-mail was sent by mistake. He did said, however, that ZapMe never agreed to give the computers to the schools outright, and that the company is looking for ways to keep the program alive, including selling the network, finding companies to "adopt" the schools and asking for government subsidies, the Times reports.

ZapMe's stock has dropped in price from a high of $13.75 per share to slightly more than $2.

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02/technology/02COMP.html