AB 647 and federal incentives seek accelerated expansion of high-speed Internet.
In 2014, Wisconsin launched its Broadband Expansion Grant Program to help bring high-speed Internet to rural areas, but so far the program hasn’t made much of a dent in the disparity of broadband access for people outside of urban and suburban areas. Although Gov. Walker announced his plan to triple the funding for the program—from $500,000 annually up to $1.5 million allocated for matching funds—during his January State of the State address, the increased funding will still fall short of what’s needed for meaningful rural broadband expansion.
However, a bill approved by the Wisconsin Assembly with bipartisan support would help accelerate broadband expansion throughout rural Wisconsin. Assembly Bill 647, introduced by NFIB member Rep. Nancy VanderMeer, would remove the cap on grants that fund broadband expansion. Current law allocates $6 million in funding for grants to construct broadband infrastructure in underserved areas, but prohibits the Public Service Commission from paying out more than $1.5 million in grants in a fiscal year. AB 647 would eliminate that prohibition and allow the PSC to make the grants in any fiscal year until the funding is depleted.
“Rural areas are still underserved when it comes to high-speed Internet, and focusing on bridging the technology gap will ensure that people in rural areas have the same access to opportunity that people in urban or suburban areas do,” Rep. VanderMeer wrote in a January op-ed in the Jackson County Chronicle.
Rep. VanderMeer noted that increasing rural broadband access would boost education, business development and access to healthcare with the use of telemedicine.
In addition to the increased expansion proposed by AB 647, rural Wisconsin will also see improved broadband expansion through an FCC program called Connect America Fund II. Under CAFII, three telecommunications providers—Century Link, Frontier Communications and AT&T—will receive $570 million in federal subsidies to expand and upgrade Internet access in rural Wisconsin between now and 2020. The goal is to reach approximately 230,000 households.
