Telstra said that a $328 million project upgrading fibre connectivity to NSW schools will also benefit businesses in regional areas, with access to up to 10Gbps speeds now possible.
Group executive for Telstra’s enterprise division, David Burns, said in a blog post that “recent major upgrades to [Telstra’s] fixed network across 525 exchange locations in regional NSW will bring substantial capacity improvements and help address digital access equality for the first time to many regional towns and centres.”
“NSW public schools are one of the first major recipients of the benefits the upgraded network will bring, with all 2200-plus schools getting a big boost to their internet connections,” he said.
When the NSW government struck its $328 million deal with Telstra in October last year, the focus was firmly on the school connectivity upgrades.
It is now apparent that schools are just one beneficiary of the fibre upgrades, with business users also set to benefit.
iTnews has confirmed that the upgrades for the schools project mean that exchanges generally have improved infrastructure that can be offered to other users.
Burns said that Telstra is “making good progress” on the school upgrades, with “around 50 schools a week” now being completed, a pace that is expected to “continue throughout the rest of the year.”
It is understood that just under half of the 2200 schools now have upgraded connections.
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