Gov opens $20m round of peri-urban mobile program

The federal government has opened up a $20 million round of the peri-urban mobile program (PUMP), along with a community consultation about how best to spend the money.

The funding is part of a $39.1 million commitment made in the 2022-2023 federal budget, with another round of the program yet to come.

PUMP’s aim is to deliver more disaster-resilient communications in under-served peri-urban communities, with the department of infrastructure citing high cost, difficult terrain, low population densities, and planning considerations making connectivity difficult to deliver.

In this funding round, the focus is on the fringe of large regional cities like Geelong, the Gold Coast and Newcastle.

The department is seeking comment on the new draft PUMP guidelines from local communities, councils, and telecommunications companies, and said round two “responds to feedback from communities who weren’t eligible for the limited scope of past PUMP rounds”.

Last year, Telstra, Optus and TPG divided up $28.2 million under the program.

Other cities that will be considered for future PUMP support include Ballarat, Bendigo, Cairns, Canberra and Queanbeyan, the NSW Central Coast, Darwin, the Sunshine Coast, Tweed Heads, Toowoomba, Townsville and Wollongong.

Participants will be supported by a project noticeboard, designed to help them identify local coverage and reception, and form partnerships with telcos to develop funding applications.

The grant opportunity guidelines are available here. The consultation is open until August 16.