The Oconto County Board has approved letters of endorsement to five companies seeking federal funding to serve the county through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program.
The board voted unanimously Jan. 23 on resolutions supporting the efforts of Bug Tussel, AT&T, Brightspeed, Charter Communications and Night Telservices.
Jayme Sellen, executive director of TEDCOR, the Tourism and Economic Development Corporation for the Oconto Region, said with a county letter of endorsement, companies can receive up to seven points toward their minimum 40 points required to qualify for state Public Service Commissions grants.
“We’ve reached out to several towns to get that endorsement as well,” Sellen said. “We’re just trying to do our part to get as much money for broadband investment in Oconto County to make sure everybody’s connected.”
On Dec. 19, the county board authorized a $360,000 fund for deployment of broadband infrastructure to provide high-speed internet for all, to provide a required 25% of matching funds for any grants obtained through the BEAD Program.
The board also received an update Jan. 23 from Mitch Olson, chief development officer for Bug Tussel, regarding the company’s $16.5 million project to provide fiber optics to a large portion of the county — including local emergency services communications upgrades.
The first phase of the fiber project is essentially completed, Olson said, and fiber is ready to go for connections to all towers to facilitate next generation of law enforcement communications.
“We’re going to continue to look to grow and expand our network in Oconto County, ultimately soliciting the PSC to receive those BEAD awards,” he said.
In addition to completing fiber network, Bug Tussel also has a couple of ongoing tower projects through a partnership with AT&T, Olson said.
“We’re still going to remain pretty active in Oconto County,” he said. “Optimistically, if we have a lot of success in the BEAD, there’ll be a lot of fiber work, and then there will certainly be tower work as well as we continue to develop and deploy sites for AT&T to increase the cellular coverage throughout the county, as well.”
Olson did caution that one of President Donald Trump’s executive orders could potentially slow down the BEAD program.
Trump’s executive order titled “Unleashing American Energy,” aimed at terminating the so-called “Green New Deal,” includes a clause that pauses the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. The clause is directed at former President Joe Biden’s electric vehicle mandate, but BEAD is a provision of the infrastructure act.
“How that impacts states that have been approved at this point and do have their operating procedure established, which Wisconsin does, (is unknown),” Olson said. “So production theoretically might be surviving that executive order and might be surviving the process going forward, but obviously it remains to be seen given the significant shift in administrations.”
Olson said he had yet to hear any guidance from the state about how the executive order affects the funds that have already been allocated to Wisconsin.
“As best we know, it’s still full speed ahead,” he said.
wbluhm@newmedia-wi.com
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