Mobile Network Hardening Program

telecommunications tower

The Mobile Network Hardening Program is an Australian Government initiative funding upgrades to improve the resilience of Australia's mobile network telecommunications infrastructure in regional and peri-urban Australia to:

  • prevent outages during a natural disaster;
  • strengthen the resilience of telecommunications facilities to allow them to operate for longer during natural disasters; and
  • support the rapid restoration of services following an outage.

Funding for the Program was provided in the Better Connectivity Plan for Regional and Rural Australia, which was announced in the 2022–23 Budget.

Round 3

The Government is providing $9.8 million (GST exclusive) for 303 projects under Round 3 of the Mobile Network Hardening Program to strengthen the resilience of mobile network telecommunications infrastructure.

Grant funding is supporting projects in areas at risk of, or impacted by, natural disasters, and is being delivered in two streams:

  • $7.5 million is being provided for 245 projects in the Regional and Remote Australia Stream (located in regional, remote and very remote Australia, including First Nations communities); and
  • $2.3 million for 58 projects in the Peri-Urban Fringe Stream (located in the peri-urban fringe of 19 capital and major regional cities).

Grant funding is being provided to:

  • Optus to uplift battery capacity, install permanent generators, improve transmission resilience in clusters of connected base stations to reduce single points of failure, and harden sites to increase protection against natural disasters;
  • Telstra to uplift battery capacity, including installing supplementary Automatic Transfer Units at a number of sites to mitigate reliance on specialist technicians when restoring power at affected sites;
  • Indara for site hardening measures to enhance the resilience of the physical infrastructure against natural disasters; and
  • Shoalhaven City Council for a permanent generator to extend the operation time of a communication tower during power outages.

The full list of projects being funded is here—

The Program Guidelines are available here—

Round 2

The Government is providing $14.2 million (GST exclusive) for 386 projects under Round 2 of the Mobile Network Hardening Program to strengthen the resilience of telecommunications infrastructure in regional and remote Australia.

Grant funding is being provided to:

  • CiFi to improve back-up power capacity and strengthen network resilience on Christmas Island and Norfolk Island
  • Optus to install new generators and improve transmission resilience in clusters of connected base stations to reduce single points of failure
  • Telstra to uplift battery back-up power reserves at sites in remote Australia, providing continuity of service during outages and other emergencies, and
  • Indara for 2 Disaster Recovery Skids for deployment across regional NSW, Victoria and Tasmania to restore mobile services during and after a natural disaster.

See the full list of projects being funded—Mobile Network Hardening Program—Round 2 funded sites.

Yarramalong generator upgrade

The Government is providing $228,000 (GST inclusive) to Telstra to improve mobile network resilience in Yarramalong, New South Wales, which will increase connectivity during emergencies.

Grant funding is being provided to Telstra to install:

  • an on-site generator at its local exchange, and
  • an Automatic Transfer Unit at the Yarramalong base station, allowing the rapid connection of a portable generator and supplement the existing 12-hour battery back-up.

 

Round 1

Round 1 of the Mobile Network Hardening Program is providing $23.5 million (GST inclusive) in grant funding to Optus, Telstra and TPG across two stages to deliver approximately 1,000 projects to strengthen the resilience of regional telecommunications infrastructure.

The first stage is funding the enhancement of the battery backup power at 467 base stations (XLS: 28 KB) funded under the first two rounds of the Government's Mobile Black Spot Program. These upgrades will increase backup operation at these base stations to at least 12 hours.

The second stage is funding the delivery of over 532 resilience upgrades at mobile base station sites across Australia. These upgrades comprise:

  • the deployment of new portable and permanent generators to supply additional back-up power during power outages;
  • upgrading battery systems to increase back-up power capacity;
  • adding battery extension devices to enhance existing back-up power capacity at key sites within mobile networks;
  • improving transmission resilience within regional mobile network clusters to reduce single points of network failure; and
  • physical hardening of sites against bushfire damage.

As at 5 August 2025, 99 per cent of Round 1 projects have been completed, with the remaining sites scheduled to be completed by early 2026.