Gov. Evers' broadband task force says everyone should have access to high-speed internet

Gov. Tony Evers’ task force on broadband has released a report outlining strategies for making high-speed internet available to every home, business and institution in the state by 2025.

Among its recommendations, the report calls for increased funding for the state broadband expansion grant program, establishing a program to help low-income families afford service, increased consumer protections and improved pricing transparency.

Since 2019 alone, Wisconsin has allocated nearly $60 million for broadband, also known as high-speed internet, aimed at tens of thousand of households and businesses.

Yet Wisconsin ranks 36th among states for broadband access in rural areas, with nearly 22% of the rural population left as unserved or underserved, according to federal data.

At a time when people can work remotely and run businesses from practically anywhere, the internet should be a boon to the rural economy. Not only could it keep Wisconsin's signature farming industry connected, it could help curb population losses in small towns, where many young people feel they must leave for opportunities elsewhere.

Yet a significant portion of the state  — if it has access to the internet at all — lacks access at broadband speeds, meaning a connection of at least 25-megabit-per-second downloads and 3 Mbps uploads. For them, ordinary tasks such as posting a video on a website are all but impossible.

Electricity transformed rural America nearly a century ago. Now, millions of people on farms and in small towns desperately need broadband.

The report calls for all homes and businesses in the state to have access to at least that level of service by 2025. And by 2031, it calls for speeds of 100 Mbps downloads and 50 Mbps uploads.  

High-speed internet “is now as critical a service as electricity, heat and running water,” said Rebecca Cameron Valcq, chairperson of the state Public Service Commission.

'Affordability gap' remains an issue

Much of the report focuses on the affordability gap, meaning that families may have decent internet service available in their community but can't afford it. 

More than 42% of low-income families in the state didn’t have a subscription to broadband of any type, the report noted, worse than the national figure of about 35% in that regard. 

Only about 44% of Wisconsinites had an internet subscription costing less than $60 a month, according to Broadband Now, a private firm that helps consumers find service providers in their area. 

In Kentucky's 'Silicon Holler' and Wisconsin's Northwoods, high-speed internet is creating jobs, and changing lives

“There are pockets of rural America where there are no broadband opportunities, so people don’t even have a choice. But in urban centers, you still see large gaps where people actually have access to broadband but they’re not subscribing," said Microsoft Corp. executive Vickie Robinson, originally from Milwaukee.

“More often than not the reasons cited are affordability,” Robinson said in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel interview.

Should broadband be publicly owned?

Currently, Wisconsin is one of more than 20 states with laws greatly restricting the creation of municipal-owned broadband networks.

The report recommends reducing barriers to publicly owned broadband in situations where it would not unfairly compete with the private sector and would serve communities without access.

In some parts of the state, the report noted, there are no internet service providers interested in expanding or improving the level of service.

The task force, created during the COVID-19 pandemic, included internet experts, service providers and public officials. It was chaired by Brittany Beyer, executive director of the Grow North Regional Economic Development Corp., and was tasked to deliver its report by June 30.