will not be seeking another ….

will not be seeking another round of bidders to replace LTD, so the county cannot rely on RDOF dollars to fill in the coverage gaps. Instead, the task force is preparing for the state to allocate a total of $1.1 billion in federal funding through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.

Based on data from the Wisconsin Internet Self-Report Survey (WISER), which provides internet speed tests for residents who take the survey, Robinson said about 40,000 of the county’s 55,500 homes and businesses have adequate internet service, leaving about 15,000 that are either unserved or underserved.

“Unserved” residents are those with download speeds less than 25 megabytes per second and upload speeds of 5 Mbps or less. Those with less than 100/20 Mbps speeds are considered “underserved.”

As the state prepares to release its plan for distributing BEAD money, Robinson said the task force needs to meet with the internet service providers (ISPs) that do the work of installing the towers and fiber optic cable for broadband internet.

The county is also in the process of hiring a limited-term employee to help coordinate its broadband expansion efforts by working with ISPs and residents who are in need of better internet service.