Bushfire-prone areas on the outskirts of major cities will be better connected through the Federal Government’s $16.4 million Peri-Urban Mobile Program (PUMP), to be unveiled in the 2020-21 Budget. 
 
PUMP will improve mobile connectivity for communities in bushfire-prone areas along the edges of Australia’s major cities, including locations in the Hume electorate. 
 
Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor said through PUMP; the Government will provide grant funding to mobile network operators and infrastructure providers to deploy new mobile phone infrastructure to improve mobile reception and coverage in peri-urban areas. 
 
“This is a pilot program for up to 60 new mobile solutions in priority areas, and there are several locations within Wollondilly and Wingecarribee that I will be identifying that may benefit from improved coverage,” Mr Taylor said. 
 
“Following the establishment of the official guidelines, I will be seeking community feedback in these areas to identify priority locations.” 
 
The program will run a competitive assessment process to provide funding to deploy new and improved mobile infrastructure. This infrastructure will address identified quality of service and reception issues in targeted areas. All applications will be competitively assessed on a solution by solution basis, with funding awarded based on the coverage outcomes provided by each solution. 
 
This new program will complement the highly successful Mobile Black Spot Program, which delivers further mobile coverage across regional and remote Australia.