[Satellite TODAY 12-21-11] Gilat Satellite Networks has been awarded a new contract by the Colombian Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MINTIC) to provide broadband Internet connectivity to over 1,600 schools throughout the country’s rural regions. The company announced Dec. 20 that the deal is valued at approximately $18.5 million.

   Gilat will provide MINTIC with its SkyEdge 2 VSAT solution to connect schools located in five separate districts across rural Colombia.

   The contract is part of a national bid to connect more than 6,800 Colombian schools in an effort to reduce the country’s communication gap and to further investment in improved access to advanced communication services in schools. The program, which involved contracts awarded seven different operators, is scheduled to commence in 2012 and conclude by mid 2013.

   “Thanks to these awards, more than 6,800 rural schools in the country will have access to the Internet with twice or four times the speeds they enjoyed before. More than 1 million children and adolescents will have the same opportunities as urban students to use information technologies in their schools,” Colombian Minister of IT and Communications Diego Molano Vega said in a statement.