Another of the Government’s Telecentres has been opened at Nukuloa School in western Viti Levu by the Acting Prime Minister and Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

The Centre will provide free internet and data access for hundreds of people in the surrounding community between Lautoka and Ba.

It will be used by school children during school hours and by the rest of the community after hours and on weekends.

This includes many ordinary villagers and farmers who have never had internet access before.

The Attorney-General said the centre was the first to be opened this year and another seven would opened at various other locations around the country in the coming weeks.

“This is one of the Government’s most important initiatives – to provide free access to the internet for ordinary Fijians. This is a way we can bridge the digital divide between rich and poor and rural and urban people in Fiji”, he said.

For the first time, members of these communities will be able to browse the internet and use web chat services such as Skype to speak to their relatives and friends living in other parts of Fiji and overseas.

The community will also have access to a range of others services.

Users will be able to scan any document so that it can be saved on a computer and sent over the internet. And printing services will also be available.

The Acting Prime Minister said ten more centres would be established in 2013 as part of the Government’s ongoing efforts to forge a smarter, better connected and more modern Fiji.

“Only about 25-thousand Fijians have regular access to a fix-lined internet connection at the moment and we believe that this initiative will improve that figure dramatically”, the Attorney-General said.

As well as all the necessary hardware and software, the Government is also providing security for the Telecentres and an assistant to help users learn how to use the services.

The first Telecenters were launched by the Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama, in October last year, at Suva Sangam College, Levuka Public School, and Rakiraki Public High School.

-ENDS-