Archived Grant Opportunity View - GO6460

The Mobile Network Hardening Program (the Program) will increase the resilience of Australia’s mobile network telecommunications infrastructure to help prevent, mitigate and respond to outages during bushfires and other natural disasters. The Program is providing grants to upgrade the resilience of mobile telecommunications infrastructure in regional and remote Australia, and First Nations communities.

Up to $15 million (GST exclusive) is available for Round 2 of the Program. Potential projects may include delivering longer periods of  backup power, emergency power solutions to facilitate rapid restoration of services, expanding protection zones around telecommunications sites, providing redundant Backhaul, or other physical hardening measures.

Round 2 of the Program is funded from the Government’s Better Connectivity Plan for Regional and Rural Australia.

To be eligible for funding under Round 2, an applicant must be a Mobile Network Operator (MNO), Mobile Network Infrastructure Provider (MNIP) or a Network Management Provider (NMP).

An MNO is a company, other than a Mobile Network Infrastructure Provider, that supplies a public mobile telecommunications service within the meaning of the Telecommunications Act 1997; and holds an apparatus or a spectrum licence (or both) for the supply of public mobile telecommunications services under the Radiocommunications Act 1992.

A MNIP is a company, other than an MNO, that provides communications infrastructure in Australia or overseas, including the installation and operation of infrastructure to be used by one or more MNOs to provide public mobile telecommunications services..

An NMP is a company that is contracted by an MNO to assist with the management and maintenance of its network. 

You must complete your project by as included in the Grant Agreement and by 30 June 2026.

$15,000,000.00

Applications must be submitted by Friday, 17 November 2023.

Applications must be lodged in accordance with Section 7 of the Grant Opportunity Guidelines (the Guidelines).

Note, the Sample Grant Agreement will be uploaded as an addendum in the coming weeks. 

To increase the reach of the Program, applicants are encouraged to seek financial co-contributions from state, territory or local governments, local communities and/or other third parties.

Applicants are encouraged to consult with state, territory and local governments, and local communities regarding the location of potential resilience upgrades.