A council is being asked to approve an emergency investment to upgrade internet provision at its secondary schools.

Scottish Borders Council signed a multi-million pound deal with global IT firm CGI five years ago to provide its digital services.

However, a report said a £1.7m investment was now needed to improve bandwidth at eight of the region's nine secondary schools.

It said that acting now would save the council up to £3.3m in the long term.

The council report said the local authority's need for fast, capable internet was continuing to increase and schools played a large part in that demand.

It said the original CGI contract was designed to allow for a ten-fold increase in bandwidth to schools.

However, the past five years have seen usage grow to the point that it is "heading towards the limits of the technology that was implemented".

The council's Inspire Learning programme - which has seen thousands of pupils given free iPads - has also increased demand.

The investment is seen as saving money in the long-term and also delivering a number of other benefits.

It will allow enhanced connectivity to other council buildings and should allow local communities to benefit from faster connections.

The report warned that failure to carry out the upgrade now would leave many schools operating "at the physical limitations of existing fibre provision".

It added that addressing issues on a school-by-school basis would end up costing significantly more in years to come.