Rural broadband advocates: state’s efforts ‘insignificant’

Gov. Scott Walker’s effort to bridge rural broadband disparities falls well short of a solution for most subscribers outside of urban areas, according to Internet service providers and industry experts.

The governor, in last week’s State of the State speech, touted a plan to triple funding for Wisconsin’s Broadband Expansion Grant Program, which started in 2014 with up to $500,000 annually in matching funds to allocate.

In its first two years, the program has benefited a few thousand households served by 14 Wisconsin service providers, but despite the increase to $1.5 million annually, rural broadband advocates say the program’s impact will be hardly noticeable.

"The amount of money we’re talking about is insignificant to the amount of money needed to upgrade rural areas to real broadband," said Barry Orton, professor emeritus of telecommunications at UW-Madison. "So, the increase is only slightly better than nothing."

JEFF GLAZE [email protected], 608-252-6138

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