RESIDENTS, visitors and local businesses in Ararat and Lake Bolac will soon notice workers installing a world-class free public WiFi network that will improve connectivity and drive innovation.<\/p>\n
Member for Western Victoria and Minister for the Digital Economy, Jaala Pulford, joined Telstra Regional Manager Steve Tinker and council officials last Friday to announce the Victorian Government will invest $1.56 million in a public Wi-Fi network in Ararat and Lake Bolac.<\/p>\n
The planned network will be rolled out at 48 locations including Ararat\u2019s retail precinct, the Visitor Information Centre, the Ararat Active Corridor and Lake Bolac foreshore.<\/p>\n
Ararat Rural City CEO, Tim Harrison, said fibre and cellular WiFi connectivity brings council to the forefront of new digital innovation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe substantial investment by the Government and our partnership with Telstra, has enabled us to design one of the most advanced public WiFi networks in the world, here in Ararat,\u201d Dr Harrison said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe like being leaders in Ararat. We are going to be the mouse that roared \u2013 that small community that bats well above its average.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s because of our ability to get things done, that we will be working in partnership with Telstra and Cisco to deliver what I understand is the first public trail of OpenRoaming technology in Australia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The new technology means users will be able to seamlessly roam across cellular and WiFi networks, providing fast, secure and dedicated free public WiFi that will benefit businesses, residents and visitors.<\/p>\n
\u201cTelstra\u2019s trial of OpenRoaming and IoT technologies puts us at the forefront of \u2018smart cities\u2019 services, further amplifying the new network to deliver community benefit,\u201d Dr Harrison said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis includes track and monitor units to protect council assets; digital screens to onboard visitors, connecting them with dining, retail, accommodation and events; and sensors to monitor everything from car parking, drains and flooding to capturing detailed data on peak periods of visitation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe IoT partnership gives us the opportunity as a small rural community to invest in a whole range of things that we never thought possible,\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Pulford said she was delighted Ararat had been chosen for the innovative project.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving access to the internet is important for everyone, no matter where they live or what they do, so I\u2019m thrilled Ararat and Lake Bolac will soon have access to free WiFi hotspots at dozens of locations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government\u2019s $1.56 million investment will be up and running next year and will allow the Ararat Rural City Council to deliver the project in partnership with Telstra, building 48 WiFi hotspots to connect Ararat\u2019s retail precinct, the Visitor Information Centre, the Ararat Active Corridor and Lake Bolac foreshore,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fibre and cellular WiFi connectivity will also give council the opportunity to fast-track more \u2018smart city\u2019 services like visitor touch-on screens, CCTV and real-time updates on important road closures and emergency alerts,\u201d Ms Pulford said.<\/p>\n
Mr Tinker said work will commence soon on the rollout of the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur aim is to have it completely rolled out by the middle of next year, we hope to start pretty soon after the new year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s over seven years and the state government are contributing the vast amount,\u201d Mr Tinker said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RESIDENTS, visitors and local businesses in Ararat and Lake Bolac will soon notice workers installing a world-class free public WiFi network that will improve connectivity and drive innovation. Member for Western Victoria and Minister for the Digital Economy, Jaala Pulford, joined Telstra Regional Manager Steve Tinker and council officials last Friday to announce the Victorian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[31],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/IMG_0283-1.jpg?fit=1920%2C1280&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdqUu4-4E","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theadvocate.net.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}