More Tauranga students are expected to be connected to the ultra-fast broadband (UFB) network by July.

Ultrafast Fibre, one of the Government's four partners in this broadband project, has announced the next 23 schools to benefit from it are in Tauranga, Hamilton, New Plymouth and Whanganui.

Tauranga Intermediate, Kaka Street Special School, St Mary's Catholic School and Mount Maunganui School are among the schools in the four locations to be added to the roll out.

Communications and Information Technology minister Amy Adams says these schools are in addition to another nine that were deployed by Ultrafast Fibre in January.

She says by the end of July, more than 16,000 students in the four regions will be able to be connected to the network.

Education Minister Hekia Parata says UFB is an exciting tool for the future of education.

'Schools will be able to share scarce resources like physics and IT teachers, and students will be able to take part in virtual classrooms and courses that might not be available at their own schools.

'Faster internet will help connect our schools with the world and prepare students for living and working in the 21st century.”

Amy says the roll-out of UFB-enabling fibre to schools is making great progress.

'UFB is a game-changer for the whole country, and will see New Zealand become one of the most connected countries in the world with speeds of up to 100 megabits per second.

'It will revolutionise the way Kiwi firms do business, the way our kids learn and the way our health services deliver to us as patients.”
She says building a more competitive and productive economy is one of the Government's key priorities for its second term, and the rollout of UFB is an important part of this.