It's life in the internet fast lane for the thousands of Bay of Plenty students who have returned to school.

Under the Government's Ultra-Fast Broadband and Rural Broadband Initiative programmes a total of 55 schools throughout the region now have access to faster and more reliable broadband.

A total of 55 Bay of Plenty schools now have access to faster and more reliable broadband. Photo: File

Of those schools, 25 are in the Tauranga electorate while the remaining 30 are located in the Bay of Plenty electorate and surrounding areas.

Tauranga MP Simon Bridges says the Government has met its target of getting all state and integrated schools access to better broadband speeds by 2016 'on time and on budget”.

'Students, teachers, and parents in the Tauranga electorate will all benefit from this,” says Simon.

'It makes for reduced course material costs, better access to remote learning, and more collaboration between parents and teachers.”

Under the UFB and RBI programmes, more than 2500 schools across New Zealand have had fibre laid to the gates which will benefit some 782,000 students. This means 99.7 per cent of Kiwi students at state and integrated schools are now able to connect to UFB directly.

The remaining schools are still able to access fast broadband via point-to-point wireless or satellite technology.

Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller says faster and more reliable broadband helps open up the world to everyone who has a thirst for knowledge.

'It's just so important our kids can be globally connected as they learn. This will allow them to compete with students across New Zealand and the globe,” says Todd.