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County approves broadband package

County approves broadband package County approves broadband package

The Marathon County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to approve granting Bug Tussel LLC, Green Bay, a $19,558,941 loan guarantee to improve broadband service across rural Marathon County.

The project, according to company spokesman Steve Schneider, includes installing 198.3 miles of fiber optic cable and 18 broadband towers that promise broadband customers up to 100 megabits per second of service over half the county.

The service, he said, will upgrade broadband to 36,019 people in an estimated 14,946 homes for “affordable” monthly fees that will range between $50 and $75 per month.

The project will offer fiber optic cable service to residents living near the proposed loop, but will serve most additional people with microwave transmission from the strategically placed towers.

Bug Tussel Wireless, which will include Marathon County in a bond offering that involves nine other counties, has pledged to sell tower space to area cellular telephone providers, who will then be able to extend better service to “dead zones” in the county.

The planned fiber optic loop starts in Athens, swings south and west to Spencer and goes from Stratford to Mosinee, continuing east to Bevent. The loop heads north though Hatley, jogs north and swings west to Brokaw and back to Athens.

In debate on Thursday, county board chairman Kurt Gibbs, town of Cassel, said the county, which has sought to improve broadband service for 13 years without much progress, would finally “deliver service to the community” in the Bug Tussel Wireless proposal.

“I wholeheartedly support the project as we go forward,” he said.

Schneider said microwave transmission from towers to homes and businesses would start in between three to 18 months after bonds are sold. A middle mile network of fiber optic cable would be accessible in between 12 to 24 months. Fiber optic service in between one and 10 gigabits of bandwidth to as many as 2,061 residences and 101 businesses could start in between 12 and 48 months.

Schneider predicted cellphone service would improve over the next two years. He also said his company would offer Bug Tussel University community education that would both teach people about internet basics, but also have instruction in Artificial Intelligence, cloud computing, agritech and other advanced topics.

Schneider said Bug Tussel would pay the county $1.55 million in interest for the county’s loan guarantee, fiber optic cable would be reserved for county use and the towers would be made available for county 911 use at no charge. He said the company would pay property tax on the towers.

Schneider said while Marathon County would guarantee the loan, his company was well capitalized and financially strong.

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