The Queensland federal government will top up its costs on state school connection by $187 million to offer trainees more bandwidth.
At the minute, the average bandwidth readily available per student is 25Kbps, but that will grow to 5Mbps per student by 2026 under a five year deal with Telstra revealed today.
The agreement will also provide rural and local schools connection speeds to match those in Brisbane, Telstra stated.
The first boost will be presented to the state’s 1258 state schools over the next 18 months, with 40 schools to get their first fiber connections.
It won’t only be schools that benefit, Telstra Enterprise chief customer officer John Ieraci said.
“This extensive infrastructure investment will likewise provide connectivity benefits to all other Queensland federal government agencies and companies, who will have access to the upgraded networks,” he said.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk stated the offer “will ensure teachers have access to the most recent digital innovations and tools for their class: whatever they require to deliver a first-rate education”.
In 2020, Telstra wona $328 million contract to update NSW schools, and in 2021 Victoria paid $100 million to improve broadband for its schools.
