ČESKÝ TELECOM AND THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION CONTINUE TO BRING BROADBAND INTERNET TO CZECH SCHOOLS
5.6.2006
ČESKÝ TELECOM, a member of the Telefónica Group, and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (MŠMT) signed an agreement in the scope of providing the Communications Infrastructure for Public Administration Information Systems, Addendum no. 7 to the Executive Agreement.
The addendum concerns the continuation of providing schools in the Czech Republic with the Internet. ČESKÝ TELECOM wants to increase the current connection speed at most schools severalfold to a standard of 2 Mbps/256 Kbps. By the end of the 2005/2006 school year this will amount to quadrupling the speed for at least 2,000 schools that already have broadband ADSL connections. If a school shows interest, it can have its speed increased to up to 4 Mbps. At the same time, ISDN technology will be upgraded to ADSL at practically all schools connected to the Public Administration Communications Infrastructure.
Petra Buzková, the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports says the following about the closing of Addendum no. 7 to the Executive Agreement for the transition to an across-the-board installation of broadband Internet in schools: “From the 2006/2007 school year, and in the KIVS, the new level of services ensures a transition to a new standard of communications for schools. The parameters of these services can enable students to work with electronic content in the classroom and safeguards the integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) into the implementation of educational programs. Furthermore, these services will be an alternative solution to connecting schools to the Internet and will be financed in a uniform manner in the scope of the grant policy for ICT services for schools after 2006.”
To increase speeds at schools that are currently connected to the Internet with lower speeds, ČESKÝ TELECOM has been building new connection elements in the network known as DSLAMs. “We are currently making an investment of 150 million koruna in these localities,” says Jaime Smith Basterra, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of ČESKÝ TELECOM, a.s. “In addition to increasing speeds, we are also aware of the fact that the Internet should be accessible to all schools in the Czech Republic, which is why we have increased coverage to up to 98% of all of our company’s telephone lines in the Czech Republic,” explains Smith. In total, 3,500 schools in our country are already connected to the worldwide web through ČESKÝ TELECOM and of these 2,500 have broadband connections. For 2,500 of these schools the operator is working on setting up broadband connections and making other improvements to the quality of the service. It continues to work intensively on making further improvements to services for other schools for the new school year.
For further information, please contact:
MARTIN ŽABKA
Press Spokesman
Tel: +420 271 463 359
Fax: +420 271 469 896
e-mail: tiskovy.odbor@ct.cz
ČESKÝ TELECOM, a. s., member of the Telefónica Group is the leading telecommunications company in the Czech Republic. Through its subsidiary company Eurotel Praha, spol. s r.o., it also has a significant presence in the Czech mobile services market. Further information about the firm and the services it offers is available at www.telecom.cz, which was rated as BestWeb 2003 in the WebTop100 survey.
Signum Temporis has consistently awarded ČESKÝ TELECOM for being one of the domestic capital market's most transparent firms in terms of providing information. Based on an open vote of specialists, members of the press and a nine-member committee, ČESKÝ TELECOM placed first in 2003, just as it did in 2001.
ČESKÝ TELECOM ranks among the most prominent firms on the Czech capital market in terms of capitalization and trading volumes. Its shares are also traded on the London Stock Exchange in the form of GDRs. ČESKÝ TELECOM's credit rating is the highest a Czech corporation can receive from top international rating agencies.
About Telefónica
Telefónica is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world in terms of market capitalisation. Its activities are centered mainly on the fixed and mobile telephony businesses with broadband as the key tool for the development of both.
The company has a significant presence in 19 countries and a customer base that amounts more than 180 million accesses around the world. Telefónica has a strong presence in Latin America, where the company focuses an important part of its growth strategy.
Telefónica is a 100% listed company, with more than 1.5 million direct shareholders. Its share capital currently comprises 4,921,130,397 ordinary shares traded on the Spanish Stock Market (Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia) and on those in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo, New York, Lima, Buenos Aires and São Paulo.
