Marathon County pledges $495,100 for broadband grants

By Kevin O’Brien

Marathon County is offering up to $495,100 as a local match for a series of state grant applications that could provide high-speed Internet service to nearly 5,000 homes and businesses in townships in the western and central portions of the county.

Last Thursday, the county board unanimously approved a resolution in support of grant applications being submitted by Frontier Communications and Charter Communications, which are asking for a portion of $42 million available through the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. The applications were due this Tuesday, so the resolution was fast-tracked through the county’s committee system last week.

Charter’s proposal is to run fiber optic cable to 4,105 homes and businesses in the towns of Rietbrock, Wien, Rib Falls, Cassel, Spencer, McMillan, Day and Green Valley, which currently have little or no access to broadband Internet. Frontier’s proposal would provide connections to another 846 locations in the village of Maine and the towns of Emmet and Spencer.

At a Nov. 1 meeting, the county’s broadband task force agreed to offer a county match of $100 per “crossing” (connection site) for up to 4,951 addresses, with the money coming out of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The resolution approved by the board includes that as a reimbursement rate for work that is completed.

Many of the areas covered by the applications were iden- See INTERNET/ page 9 Internet

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tified as high priorities by the task force after a previous Internet service provider, LTE Broadband, lost its grant from the Federal Communications Commission, which determined the company did not have the resources to do the work. This left several townships without any immediate prospects for broadband expansion.

Supervisor John Robinson, chairman of the broadband task force, said the proposals from Charter and Frontier will be divided into five different projects for the PSC to consider.

“I don’t think all of them will be funded, but if we don’t submit, none of them will be,” Robinson told the Infrastructure Committee last Thursday.

Robinson said Charter and Frontier are doing all they can to make their applications “challengeproof,” such as eliminating service overlaps and getting letters of support from local school districts, businesses and governments. The county’s financial contribution will also help, he said.

“The match strengthens your application,” he said.

Based on data from the Wisconsin Internet Self-Report Survey (WISER), which provides internet speed tests for residents who take the survey, about 40,000 of the county’s 55,500 homes and businesses have adequate internet service, leaving about 15,000 that are either unserved or underserved.

Robinson said the county should know by early next year which projects will be getting grant funds through the Wisconsin PSC.