Telecommunications company TeleBermuda International (TBI) will spend more than half a million dollars providing free Internet access for the Island?s public schools.

Education Minister Terry Lister made the announcement at a Press conference on Friday.

He said the company?s investment in public education over five years represents a total of $650,000.

?This investment will go a long way to assist our teachers as they continue to provide our children with first class instruction using the most modern tools available,? he said.

TBI initiated its donation of the high speed bandwidth to the school system in June 2001. The TBI network uses a fibre optic network to access one of Bermuda?s largest Internet backbones.

For several years students have had access to Edunet, a school administration software, the option to use video conferencing for distance learning and live educational events on and off the Island, and the future option to provide Internet based instruction from both the classroom and from home or other remote sites.

TeleBermuda President James Fitzgerald said his company was ?delighted to be in a position to continue with the donation? of high speed Internet facilities .

TeleBermuda is an established international telecommunications service provider that provides long distance voice, data, Internet, and collocation services.