High-speed broadband for 200 Irish schools

broadband when term started next autumn, minister for communications, energy and natural resources Pat Rabbitte announced, IrishTimes.com reports.

“This will enable connections in every classroom, allowing students and teachers to upload and download content at will,” he said.

According to Mobile Broadband Rabbitte said schools in rural counties in the west and Border regions were being prioritised in the first year of a three-year rollout. They were located in regions that had the weakest broadband infrastructure and where state investment would have the greatest impact.

Rabbitte said the next-generation broadband taskforce, which he had been chairing, had completed its work and a report would come before the government by the end of the month. It would provide a basis for planning the rollout of faster broadband nationwide over the coming years and help pinpoint where it was necessary to intervene to address market failure.