City, BPU Ask Residents to Fill Out Survey on Municipal Broadband wrfalp.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wrfalp.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Superior, Duluth seek route to faster, cheaper internet service
Superior is considering a $31 million investment in a fiber optic network, while Duluth is prepared to put $1 million on the table as the city weighs its options. Written By: Peter Passi | × A chart taken from a Connect Superior Webinar video on YouTube. (contributed photo)
Duluth Mayor Emily Larson has offered a harsh assessment of the city’s dominant broadband service provider: Spectrum Internet.
“Right now, Spectrum is the only broadband provider in Duluth. They know it and your bills show it. Spectrum even raised prices in a pandemic – and this community, held hostage, had no choice but to pay or go without access,” she said in her State of the City Address earlier this month.
Gov. Tony Evers and GOP lawmakers support increased funding for broadband expansion.
Written By:
Danielle Kaeding / Wisconsin Public Radio | 12:40 pm, Apr. 12, 2021 ×
The Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison. (Laura Zimmerman/WPR)
Local governments in Wisconsin are set to receive $2.3 billion in the next two years as part of a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package. Now, communities large and small across Wisconsin are sorting through what the money can go toward and how to spend it. We re encouraging communities to be strategic with this kind of one-time pot of money that they ll receive, and consider coordinating with other jurisdictions in the area like the county and perhaps the state, said Curt Witynski, deputy director for the League of Wisconsin Municipalities.
Must create plans to spend federal pandemic aid on COVID-19 response and economic losses. //end headline wrapper ?>Wisconsin State Capitol. Photo by Dave Reid.
Local governments in Wisconsin are set to receive $2.3 billion in the next two years as part of a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package. Now, communities large and small across Wisconsin are sorting through what the money can go toward and how to spend it.
“We’re encouraging communities to be strategic with this kind of one-time pot of money that they’ll receive, and consider coordinating with other jurisdictions in the area like the county and perhaps the state,” said
Gila Countyâs Homero Vela, assistant county manager, has worked for the last 18 months with partners on a strategic plan for broadband throughout Gila County. Partners in the project include Kimley-Horn, EntryPoint Networks and BPG Designs.
The group has been pulling together data, including possible costs. Vela and various partners provided the information to the Gila County Board of Supervisors at a March 30 work session, which included a two-hour presentation and a 44-slide PowerPoint program.
Vela stressed to the board that it could take up to five years to get a reliable and cost-effective broadband system in place. Once in place, it is at least a 50-year infrastructure improvement.