High speed internet funding secured for Dumbleyung, Kent and Lake Grace

High-speed internet is coming to new areas of the Great Southern and southern Wheatbelt.

The shires of Dumbleyung, Kent and Lake Grace are set to receive a significant portion of a $3.3 million NBN broadband rollout from the State Government.

Fixed wireless connections will allow users to access internet from long range.

A Shire of Dumbleyung spokesman said the Shire was planning to use the Digital Farm Grant funding to construct multiple large towers across the region to make sure no areas missed out on the new internet connection.

Much of the Great Southern region already received funding for a similar internet roll-out scheme in 2018, including Narrogin, Wagin, Katanning and Broomehill-Tambellup.

Shire of Dumbleyung president Julie Ramm said the faster internet would have economic benefits for shires.

Ms Ramm said current internet speeds made it difficult for schools and farmers to operate efficiently.

“We have now been adapting to the new technology but we haven’t had the internet speeds to cater for it,” she said.

“Working remotely during COVID has highlighted how bad the speed is... which in today’s day and age it is pretty ordinary.”

She said the new wireless infrastructure would “hopefully fix all of that”.

“The new capacity will be 100-times better,” she said.