Officials Give Estimates in Millions for Five-Year Wisconsin Broadband Deployments
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) emphasized a desire for deploying more broadband across the state, speaking at a press conference during the Wisconsin Public Service Commission’s two-day broadband symposium last week in Madison. He spoke of the significance of “high-speed Internet connections, both for uploads and downloads” for potential businesses in the state, citing competition from all over the world. The state rolled out multiple new tools to help achieve the broadband goals, part of a broader set of initiatives the state has launched to that end.
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"We want to make sure, particularly in rural Wisconsin and in some of the more hard-to-reach areas, particularly in northern Wisconsin but also elsewhere across the state, that we're doing all we can to make sure the entire state is covered,” Walker said. The symposium’s goal is to get the state’s policy stakeholders talking, Walker said, talking of the goals of the PSC’s broadband playbook, drafted last year and released more formally last month. One relevant issue may involve how to deploy fiber along the rights of way, Walker said, which will be looked at if stakeholders point to that.
During the symposium, LinkWISCONSIN released its state broadband initiative cost model (http://1.usa.gov/10zKiuZ), intended to show where coverage exists throughout the state, population density and demand, and the potential cost to make networks better in areas that don’t have sufficient coverage.
To provide wireline service to communities lacking the most basic service, Wisconsin would have capital costs of $238.8 million and an annual operating expenditure of $30.2 million, according to the initial model estimates. This would come to nearly $390 million over five years, with a monthly expense of around $31 per subscriber. To provide wireless service for those communities in need, Wisconsin would have to spend $52.9 million in capital expenditures and $10 million in annual operating expenses, with $103.1 million collectively needed over five years and a monthly expense per customer of $238. A served census block is considered to have the FCC minimum threshold of 768 x 200 or higher access, according to the model. “The wireline component of the model builds a second-mile fiber network capable of 4X768 coverage which is consistent with/allowed by the FCC’s ongoing CAF [Connect America Fund] consideration,” the model explains. “While a longer term target is 4x1, the FCC recognized comments to that proceeding suggesting that moving from .768 to a 1 Mbps upload imposes costs in excess of the benefits realized.” It warned that wireline and wireless should be considered complementary services and not substitutes.
The model has many applications, a LinkWISCONSIN presentation suggests (http://1.usa.gov/12qqniF). Providers can use the estimates to attain “a credible and consistent first view of the likely outcomes in terms of (1) potential market (modeled subscribers), (2) initial investment required and (3) ongoing operating costs related to the core network,” it said. The data also may help city officials who want to understand local levels of service and explore partnerships and incentives to improve it. The model estimates will help policy makers at several levels, including in applications for grants and down the road, with the $7-billion national public safety network of FirstNet.
The data will help in the state’s other upcoming initiatives, the presentation noted. There will be its bandwidth estimate tool, slated to come out in Q2, which is intended for businesses to better understand what’s needed and how much it costs. In the year’s fourth quarter, the state is planning to create an impact model looking at the jobs and economic activity associated with this broadband development.
LinkWISCONSIN also rolled out a mobile smartphone and tablet app during the symposium, an app which will conduct recurring performance tests and send back anonymous data to the organization. “This data, which validates the speed and connection capabilities of mobile broadband vendors, will give state planners much needed insight into a wide range of operational issues, including how mobile applications will perform in the field,” LinkWISCONSIN said of the tool (http://1.usa.gov/14K01Mg), noting it will help with mapping and planning. It developed the app in partnership with Mobile Pulse.
"Businesses have not started because of a lack of broadband in some areas of the state,” Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation CEO Reed Hall told the symposium’s stakeholders, according to a blog post from the organization (http://bit.ly/14Tvyfn). It has partnered with the PSC and others as part of a broadband survey available through April 17, which the PSC sent out earlier this year. Legislators have picked up on the initiatives. “For the past several months, I have been working with stakeholders in the 93rd Assembly district concerning the issue of broadband expansion to local businesses and households,” wrote State Rep. Warren Petryk (R) in the Pierce County Herald recently (http://bit.ly/17hsHMs). He described how Walker’s state budget included money for a broadband expansion grant program derived from the state USF and spotlighted the playbook. He thanked NTIA for its help in funding the playbook and planning efforts.
Heather Gold, president of the Fiber to the Home Council Americas, specifically praised Wisconsin’s efforts at the FCC’s workshop on gigabit communities last month (CD March 28 p4). The Wisconsin symposium featured a keynote from Gig.U Executive Director Blair Levin Thursday. He praised the role of states and cities while slamming FCC broadband policies, prompting a lengthy defense from the FCC on its record (CD April 5 p10).