Today’s economic climate has created some challenges to expanding broadband, but more projects will soon be underway.
The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin announced the most recent round of broadband expansion grants from the state earlier this year. You can see the list of recipients here: https://psc.wi.gov/Documents/broadband/RptGrantSummarybyRound-BBEG2022.pdf
Bug Tussel Wireless is getting more than $20 million for 11 broadband projects spanning 11 counties.
Chief Operating Officer Jason Wied says construction will begin soon as the company is navigating inflation and supply chain challenges. But he notes that without these grants, it’s likely that broadband expansion in rural communities would continue to see gaps.
“It helps us because it makes it affordable and cost effective to do these projects,” Wied says. “The reason that a lot of people in rural areas don’t have fiber, for example, right now is most of the big companies just can’t find the economic viability of that. It’s so costly to run fiber.”
The grant money from the PSC trails about a year behind. So this year, Bug Tussel Wireless embarked on projects with money awarded to them in 2021. The grants awarded this summer to Bug Tussel — roughly $20 million — is coming soon. The company is currently working on the designing and engineering. Wied says he expects the construction work to get going by the year end, with projects getting done by early 2024.
Unfortunately, supply chain and inflation challenges impacts how far a dollar goes to expand broadband.
“The supply chain issues have caused delay after delay… it’s probably cost us several months this year,” he says. “Inflation — it’s a killer, it always hurts. When we do these projects, we commit to a budget with these counties, and we’re going to stick to it. So anything over is on our dime.”
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