Wisconsin giving millions to broadband providers to expand in rural areas

For fiscal year 2015, Wisconsin received 13 applications, totaling $1.9 million, for broadband expansion grants -- more than four times the amount awarded. The Public Service Commission gives preference to projects where there are matching funds. Going forward, there also will be a preference for projects that can be expanded in a cost effective way, according to the agency. A PSC panel makes recommendations, but the final decisions are made by the agency's three commissioners, appointed by Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI), who review the applications. "Local politicians send us letters of support ... and in some cases (their communities) put up money. This is a competitive process. We are going to get many more applications than we can possibly fulfill," said Dennis Klaila, a program and policy analyst for the agency. So far, there hasn't been an analysis to determine whether the work funded by the grants was completed or how effective it's been. "We have site visits tentatively scheduled for October, but there's nothing I can show you at this point," Klaila said.

Some of the grants have been for large providers, such as TDS Telecom, which owns Central State Telephone Co., the firm that received $100,000 for extending broadband near Wisconsin Rapids. TDS, the seventh-largest local exchange telephone company in the United States, also received millions of dollars in federal stimulus money to expand broadband services in Wisconsin and other states. All of the easy-to-serve areas of the country have broadband. It's reaching the remaining 10 percent or 15 percent that's difficult, said Andrew Petersen, a TDS vice president. "We would love to see the size of the (state) broadband grant program increase 100 fold," Petersen said. "We will spend more than $180 million in cap