Wisconsin Public Radio

Every morning, as Mike Hesse gets ready to go out the front door of his family farm, he has a rude awakening. Right at the edge of his property stands an orange and white pole that looks like a PVC pipe. It’s a utility cap for a fiber-optic internet line that cuts through his front yard. “That’s how close fiber internet is to my home here,” he said, standing on his porch.

After five years of planning, the city of Superior (WI) launched a new city-owned fiber optic network called ConnectSuperior. ConnectSuperior works kind of like a highway, where the city supplies the infrastructure, and businesses can use that network to provide high-speed internet service to residents. Stephanie Becken, the city’s broadband manager, said that the new network has been a game-changer for Superior.

A faster and more reliable way to get online is being offered to residents of one Superior (WI) neighborhood, with others soon to be added. ConnectSuperior began making high-speed broadband service available to residents earlier in August with the completion of its fiber optic infrastructure, though the city itself isn’t the internet provider.

The city of Superior (WI) recently broke ground on a city-owned fiber network that aims to lower costs and provide more reliable internet service for residents. Utility crews began installing tubes that house fiber optic cables for the first phase of the ConnectSuperior network in a neighborhood near the University of Wisconsin-Superior.

Leaders from the Biden Administration said access to high-speed internet will bring opportunity and dignity for residents of rural communities in Wisconsin and across the country. Tom Perez, White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, and Don Graves, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce, visited Dairyland Power Cooperative in La Crosse (WI) on November 30 to talk about federal money for broadband infrastructure. Dairyland is one of the recipients of the Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Grant, a program created through the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Republican lawmakers voted to eliminate Governor Tony Evers' (D-WI) proposed $750 million investment in broadband, saying the state would wait for an upcoming influx of federal broadband funding instead. The move by Republicans on the budget committee would mark the first time in a decade that the legislature hasn't set aside funding for broadband expansion. It comes at a time when the federal government is expected to spend between $700 million and $1.1 billion on broadband expansion in Wisconsin as part of the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

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Wisconsin government and industry stakeholders met to discuss how the state can best spend up to $1.2 billion Wisconsin may receive for expanding high-speed internet. The funding comes as around 1.3 million people in Wisconsin still can’t access or afford broadband service. Around 650,000 residents lack access to high-speed internet or speeds of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload. The Wisconsin Broadband Office also estimates another 650,000 people statewide can’t afford broadband.

Rural Northwoods students who lack reliable internet at home will soon be able to connect to their school networks via a drone-powered cellular signal. A Wisconsin startup will be part of a state-funded pilot program in the Eagle River area that will test the use of drones as a way to expand internet connectivity into rural areas. It's a partnership between the new company Wisconsin Telelift and the Northland Pines School District.

In 2020, Wisconsin will provide a record amount of money for broadband internet in underserved areas of the state that need it for business, government and school. The $24 million the state is making available in 2020 through the Broadband Expansion Grant Program is the largest amount since the program began in 2014.