Thodey hails $146m Catholic NBN

Telstra chief David Thodey today announced a $146 million broadband network project to connect over 1550 Catholic Australian schools.

The predominantly fibre network will be installed over the next two years, according to a joint statement by a newly formed company, Catholic Network Australia (CNA), and Telstra.

Thodey made a rare public appearance today to announce the project at St Monica's Primary School in Footscray, Victoria, alongside Francis Moore, chair of the newly formed networking subsidiary of Catholic Resources Ltd, CNA.

The Catholic school network will use Telstra Internet Direct, formerly a BigPond Service, and is planned to connect five datacentres across Australia.

"Together with CNA, Telstra will provide Catholic schools across Australia with the broadband services necessary to access education resources critical to a first rate contemporary learning environment," said Thodey.

According to CNA, which has been tasked with managing the planned network, more than 90 per cent of all Australian Catholic education sites have committed to the new network.