The Northwest Regional Planning Commission (NWRPC) has been working with the Public Service Commission (PSC) to get funding to move forward on installing broadband Internet in all its northern counties.
NWRPC serves 10 counties and five tribal nations in northwest Wisconsin. In January 2023, the commission was made aware of coming available funds for all Wisconsin counties. The funds are for those interested in coming up with plans for broadband installation through a Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program local planning grant. Each county would receive $18,000, spread out over a two-year period.
The PSC reached out to individual entities on whether or not they want to opt in or out of the funding. The big question, however, was whether each county wanted to take the funds on its own or form a regional entity to handle the process and the funds. If they opted for the regional entity with multiple counties involved, the grant monies would be bumped up by a couple of thousand dollars.
NWRPC’s Executive Committee met Wednesday, May 29, to hear an update on the process. Executive Director Sheldon Johnson said nine Bad River Tribal counties opted to create a regional group through Visions Northwest, a regional economic development organization. Johnson said a year ago, NWRPC didn’t have the staff to create its own regional entity, so the process was delayed until now.
A final plan is due in May 2025, he said, and later that afternoon the committee would be meeting with the regional entity.
At a meeting May 1, the PSC and University of Wisconsin-Extension presented the path for billions of dollars from the state to be awarded over a four- to five-month period.
A 30-day comment period and challenge process began April 29, as the map shows everyone in Wisconsin who does or does not have broadband, and it is apparently inaccurate, so governmental entities can challenge it. Johnson said that the map has misinformation, with areas noted they are being served with broadband, but are actually “underserved or unserved,” as the census block identified them incorrectly.
“The PSC has up to 30 days to review all the information and then correct the map,” Johnson said.
After that, there will be another 30-day period for providers to contest the challenge process.
“So we still have 60 days to go on this process,” Johnson said.
NWRPC Business Development/Information Technology Specialist Crystal Rohde said there is a total of 120,621 serviceable locations, unserved or served, in this region, and over 51,000 are underserved or have no service at all.
“That’s 43 percent of all the broadband,” she said.
Rohde said those eligible for the BEAD grant are the unserved locations for the first wave of funding, but this hasn’t fully been fleshed out yet. After that, the PSC will put together a map with different blocks and broadband providers will bid on a full block.
“They have to serve everybody in that block,” Rohde explained, rather than providers designing their own area to install.
She added that the applications for providers will probably come out around August or September, and “they’re going to move fast (on getting funding) out the door. The goal here is that everybody’s served.”
Johnson said counties will have a role in this process, and county boards will pass resolutions on broadband that will be scored into the applications, and determine which committee of jurisdiction will handle the process, as many counties don’t have specific broadband committees.
Rohde added that counties will be able to “tip the scale on that application.”
They also get points on applications and can get more ownership of which providers they want to work with. The PSC wants to see local engagement.
Executive Committee Chair Rollie Thums of Taylor County said his county passed a resolution for broadband a long time ago unanimously and they work with Charter Communications.
“If our citizens get service, that’s all we care,” he said.
Rohde said the committee will be meeting more before the application process.
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