Hopes to build a fiber optic network from Bowler to Marion were dashed when the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) recently denied a Shawano County grant application.
Matt Hietpas, Shawano County technology services director, broke the news to the Shawano County Executive Committee on March 20.
“I was really shocked at this,” he said. “Cirrinity was shocked.”
The proposal was for Cirrinity to team up with Shawano County and a few other municipalities to bring broadband to 300-plus homes.
This project would have built a section of fiber optic service from Cirrinity’s existing fiber routes in the Stockbridge-Munsee Community in the north and connect with a fiber route in the south of the county near Marion.
The fiber path would make home broadband available to 327 homes and businesses in Leopolis and the towns of Pella and Herman.
A Cirrinity proposal to expand service in nearby Langlade County was approved by the PSC.
“Unlike Shawano County, Langlade County has invested in fiber with their own county funds,” Hietpas said. “That’s what I’ve been pushing over the last couple of years here. The state looks at that.”
Hietpas said the county will continue to search for other funding avenues as this stretch affects six of the county’s eight 911 communications towers.
“This is something we really have to think about,” he said. “I believe an investment in fiber for our county is pretty much a need now.”
The towers are currently connected via point-to-point wireless. With the grant, Cirrinity would have provided fiber strings that would eliminate the point-to-point wireless and the need to replace them. It would also have increased the speed or reliability, and add redundancy across the tower structure.
Fiber connections would also lay the groundwork for future connections with the other two towers on the county’s east side as well as other desired locations in Shawano.
“Each of these pair of microwave dishes between the towers are roughly $235,000,” Hietpas said. “Our towers probably have two sets of these on each of them.”
Jim Davel, administrative coordinator, said the equipment is at least 15 years old.
“We’ve replaced one since I’ve been here,” he said. “We did do one on the Gresham tower, but we had a spare.”
Hietpas said the county could have paid for the entire proposed fiber project on its own and still spent less than the cost to replace all of the point-to-point equipment.
“Let’s just say there are 10 sets we have to throw on the west end — $2.3 million,” he said. “If we would just pay Cirrinity, it would cost us $2.1 million right now to put all the fiber in we need to get on their system and add 36 miles of fiber so that we’re covered … redundant all the way to all six towers on the west end.”
Davel reminded supervisors the towers are another aspect of government operations that requires a strategic approach rather than continuing in the same manner as in the past.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
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