Three Catholic dioceses have combined their purchasing power to provide broadband services to 4,000 teachers and 40,000 students at around 100 regional schools, at a cost of around $4.5 million.
The Catholic Education Office Diocese in Wollongong, Catholic Schools Office of Broken Bay and Catholic Schools Office Diocese of Wagga Wagga, will wire up 100 schools with the services by Christmas, under an agreement signed with AAPT-owned Connect.
The project -- dubbed CASTnet -- or the Church Agency and Schools' Technology Network Internet services, is a VPN delivering broadband, email, Internet filtering and web hosting services to the schools.
Students could access school resources, libraries and online databases while emailing teachers and sharing schoolwork with classmates, AAPT said.
Teachers would also be able to download online education support, guides and images for use in the classroom.
Greg Whitby, director of schools at the Catholic Education Office in Wollongong, NSW, said he expected that, within the next 12 months, a further 300 Catholic schools could be set up with the services.
AAPT claimed the network provided a single platform supporting voice, video and data communications and could prioritise Internet traffic and allowed for increased usage depending on the needs of each school.
Matt McGuire, general manager of business sales at AAPT, said the broadband services offered under the contract were consistent with those in the cities and would 'bridge the digital divide between country and city schools.
'This service will really improve the quality of education for children in key regional areas. They will be using the same high level Internet services being used by AAPT Connect business customers throughout Australia,' he said.
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