More schools, hospitals, and libraries to be connected to faster broadband

As a Member of Parliament for a largely rural area and also as Minister for Communications and Information Technology I was thrilled to announce earlier this week that more schools, hospitals, and libraries will be connected to faster broadband in the final phase of National’s $300 million Rural Broadband Initiative.

We all know how important it is to have easy access to good, fast communication. Having faster broadband will break down the barriers of distance that rural communities face.  By introducing it into our schools, our hospitals and our libraries we know that students will be able to video conference with specialist teachers, doctors and nurses will be connected to training sessions in big cities and communities will have access to information and job-seeking tools through broadband in public libraries.

Across the country, this phase of the Rural Broadband Initiative will see a further 193 provincial schools, 183 rural public libraries, 37 rural hospitals and 10 Health Centres receiving Ultra-Fast Broadband fibre connections of up to 100 Megabits per second.  National is also upgrading 57 remote schools to faster broadband.  This is in addition to phase one of Rural Broadband Initiative which is already underway and means every one of our schools will be able to access better, faster broadband.

The Banks Peninsula and the Selwyn region are both set to benefit greatly from our Rural Broadband Initiative. The Akaroa, Leeston, Darfield and Lincoln Maternity Hospitals and the Darfield, Akaroa and Little River libraries will be connected to ultra-fast broadband in the coming years. In addition two remote schools on the Peninsula – Le Bons Bay School and Okains Bay School – will be connected to faster broadband using point to point wireless technology.  National is delivering on its promise that no school will miss out. Many of these schools have relied on satellite broadband and have managed with small data caps and low speeds.  The improved broadband for remote schools will be light years ahead of where they are today.

We are ensuring that our rural communities will be well connected with the latest technology.  Connecting all communities to fast and ultra-fast broadband over the next few years is a key plank of National’s goal of creating a more competitive and productive economy.  I’m proud to say that we are delivering on that goal.

I’m looking forward to the brighter future it will bring to our communities and our local economy.

Amy Adams
Member of Parliament for Selwyn

Amy Adams with Prime Minister John Key.