Archived Grant Opportunity View - GO5285

The Regional Connectivity Program (RCP) Round 2 is a competitive grant opportunity to expand the economic, social and public safety benefits of improved digital connectivity to regional, rural and remote Australian communities. Up to $112 million (GST inclusive) is available for Round 2, including $45 million (GST inclusive) for projects in Northern Australia under the Connecting Northern Australia initiative (CNA initiative). The grant opportunity will be administered by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications (DITRDC).

Funded infrastructure under Round 2 of the RCP must provide retail mobile or broadband services to a regional, rural or remote community or a subset of the community (such as local businesses, tourist locations, schools etc.) for an operational period of 7 years.

The CNA initiative will support projects which respond to the specific connectivity needs of rural and remote communities in the north, a vital strategic growth area. There is no separate application process or eligibility criteria to receive funding as part of the CNA initiative.

To assist collaboration between local communities, the telecommunications industry, governments and other organisations, the Government has launched an online project noticeboard which will enable interested parties to foster links and work together on proposals for funding.

To be eligible you must:

• have an Australian Business Number (ABN)

and must be one of the following entity types, a:

• licensed telecommunications carrier under the Telecommunications Act 1997; or
• owner or intended owner of the Proposed Solution infrastructure who holds or intends to hold a Nominated Carrier Declaration (NCD) under the Telecommunications Act 1997 in relation to the infrastructure to be built or improved/upgraded; or

for a joint (consortia) application:

• at least one organisation must be one of the entity types listed above. This will be the entity that enters into a Grant Agreement with the Commonwealth. However, such an application may be led by any of the following entity types:
  • Licensed carriers or infrastructure owner (in the case a NCD applies)
  • State and territory governments
  • Local government, local governing bodies, and regional development bodies
  • Industry, business, and community groups
  • Not-for-profits; or
  • First Nations community controlled organisations.

Funded Solutions under the Program must be completed by 30 June 2023. Grantees will be required to maintain retail services from the Solution for an Operational Period of 7 years following the completion of each Funded Solution.

$112,000,000.00

Options for lodgement include GovTeams, email, mail and/or hand-delivery. Further details on each option are available at section 7.1 of the Grant Opportunity Guidelines.

Applicants will be required to complete the Application Pack, including the Proposed Solution Assessment Tool (PSAT). Applicants will also be required to provide documents in support of any claims against the merit criteria, as well as predictive maps of coverage outcomes from proposed infrastructure.

Full requirements for applications, including Program merit criteria, are detailed in the Grant Opportunity Guidelines.