Busselton Jetty, Western Australia
Publicly listed internet service provider Swoop has secured $3.4 million in funding for a project to help improve broadband services to farming regions of Harvey, Brunswick and Busselton in Western Australia.
In WA, Swoop operates under wireless infrastructure provider NodeOne and has existing infrastructure in the region.
Under the project, Swoop will establish a number of towers that will cover 850 kilometres in the Harvey region to connect to its existing network near Bunbury and major data centres in Perth.
It will also assist in filling any blackspots in the area. Further, new towers will also be erected in the Busselton region to cover 500 kilometres.
Swoop is funding the project from its capital reserves as well as through a grant awarded under the second round of the government's Regional Connectivity Program.
Swoop CEO Alex West said the project in the agricultural regions of southwest WA is part of its ongoing commitment to improve connectivity and opportunities in regional Australia.
“Swoop’s goal is to expand our high-performing network to regional Australia to create stronger economic and growth opportunities for local economies,” he said.
“Improvement in infrastructure and advancements in agricultural technology will see businesses...increase their trade from small, local trading to a widespread, large-scale business on a more advanced industrial platform, with increased opportunity to export their products and to compete with other developing businesses.”
In total, Swoop will provide around 8400 businesses and residents with enterprise-grade fixed wireless services of up to 150Mbps.
“In creating more infrastructure, Swoop is also playing its part in job creation, with the manufacturing and installation of our fixed wireless towers providing increased jobs for the local community. We’re proud to be investing in our local people and local communities,” West added.
Swoop has been making multiple acquisitions in the past few months, recently adding Luminet and its Sydney-based dark fibre network for a purchase price of $8 million.
