More than 1,000 disadvantaged families without broadband at home have now been connected to free internet as part of the Albanese Government’s new School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI).
The first phase of the SSBI – announced in the October 2022-23 Federal Budget and launched in February 2023 – involved partnering with a small number of national charities and community organisations to identify and nominate eligible families.
To help ensure the initiative becomes more widely accessible, work has commenced to widen the group of nominating organisations with the initiative capable of supporting up to 30,000 families with free broadband for 12 months.
This aspiration underpins a key objective of the Albanese Government to expand digital opportunity and ease cost of living pressures for unconnected families.
State and Territory education departments, Catholic and Independent schools and additional charities and community organisations have signed on as nominating partners and Members of Parliament and Senators will soon also be able to identify and nominate eligible families.
NBN Co is leading the implementation of the initiative. To be eligible for SSBI, a family must:
- Have a child living at home that is enrolled in an Australian school in 2023.
- Be referred by a nominating organisation or MP
- Have no active broadband service over the NBN network
- Live in a premises where they can access a standard NBN service.
Once a family is found eligible, they are issued with a unique voucher which they can redeem with one of the participating internet providers. The 12 months of free service begins from the day the service is activated and is available across all NBN technologies.
