Consultation on draft grant opportunity guidelines for Round 5A of the Mobile Black Spot Program

We are seeking feedback on the draft grant opportunity guidelines (the draft Guidelines) for Round 5A of the Mobile Black Spot Program (the Program). Further information is available on the Program's webpage.

The Australian Government has committed $380 million to the Program over six funding rounds. Round 5A is a supplementary round taking place between Rounds 5 and 6.

Round 5A will be used to test a range of different program designs to continue to expand and improve mobile coverage in regional and remote Australia, with a focus on:

• incentivising solutions with multiple Mobile Network Operators;
• giving priority to solutions that provide new and improved mobile coverage to high priority natural disaster prone areas or designated major regional and remote transport corridors; and
• funding projects that trial new technologies and delivery models for new ways to improve mobile coverage and competition in less populated and higher-cost regional and remote areas.

The draft Guidelines outline the eligibility criteria for participants and activities under the round, the proposed assessment criteria, and the process for prospective applications. The draft Guidelines have been informed by the feedback received to the Round 5A discussion paper. Further information on this consultation can be found on the Round 5A Consultation on design options 'Have your say' page.

We welcome your feedback on the draft Guidelines to ensure they meet the Program's objectives. Submissions close at 5pm 4 November 2020.

Relevant Documentation

Mobile Black Spot Program Draft Round 5A Guidelines

Published 21st Oct 2020

Download PDF (734.11 KB) Download DOC (253.68 KB)

These Draft Guidelines contain information for Round 5A of the Program