RURAL CONNECTIVITY FOR RECOVERY AND RESILIENCE

Community Business Connect, part of the AgBiz Assist group, has been awarded $2.3mil grant funding from the Australian Government for the Rural Connectivity for Recovery and Resilience Project.

Community Business Connect (CBC), a hands-on social enterprise, was founded by well know community agency AgBiz Assist and offers a range of IT and connectivity products and services to residential and commercial users across Regional Victoria and New South Wales.

Following the 2019/2020 Black Summer Bushfires, CBC identified an urgent need to improve mobile signal quality in the bushfire-affected areas of Towong and Alpine Shires, where blackspot prevention programs are unlikely to assist in the near future.

Faced with the challenge of solving the unique issues experienced by those in rural communities and with post-disaster community recovery in mind, the Rural Connectivity for Recovery and Resilience Project (RCRR) was developed.

This funding from the Australian Government will enable the distribution and installation of no-cost Mobile Signal Boosters to residences in low-coverage areas identified within the Alpine and Towong Shires.

Community Business Connect will visit these areas and offer, in addition to the Mobile Signal Boosters, one-on-one education, support and communication analysis for residents of impacted communities.