Broadband expansion slated in Solon Springs, Gordon

Maria Lockwood, Superior Telegram, Wis.
·4 min read

Mar. 22—A project that will bring up to 1 Gbps internet access to 244 homes and eight businesses in the towns of Gordon and Solon Springs has been awarded a $326,000 grant from the state. It is among 58 projects statewide to secure a 2021 Broadband Expansion Grant from the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin.

"We're super-excited," said Cory Heigl, vice president and general manager of the communications company Astrea, which will build the fiber-to-the-home project.

Engineering and permitting for the expansion is expected to begin in April, he said, with construction starting in May or June. The original plan was to start construction this year and complete it in 2022.

Heigl said the company is looking at ways to speed up construction to get most, if not all, of the work done this season. The weather, as well as competition for workers, fiber and machines, will determine how quickly the work will go.

"It's a hot industry right now," Heigl said.

Norvado, a communications company based in Cable, will be building out a 1 Gbps fiber-to-the-home network in the town of Cloverland this spring.

"We've seen a need this past year like we've never seen before," said Norvado CEO Chad Young.

The Cloverland project, which will connect 55 homes and six businesses, received a 2020 Broadband Expansion Grant of $443,000. Competition for the grants is high. Norvado's initial application for a grant didn't make the cut for 2019, despite the need for access in the area. The difference this time, Young said, was local support.

The town of Cloverland provided a letter of support and offered to invest $5,000 in community funds to offset the cost of the project. Senate Minority Leader Janet Bewley, D-Mason, and Rep. Beth Meyers, D-Bayfield, were also advocates.

"It sort of helps to have everybody on the same page," Young said.

Astrea's Solon Springs and Gordon project managed to secure a grant on its first attempt. The secret sauce, Heigl said, was community engagement.

"It's really about local leaders banding together to tell the local story," Heigl said.

The communities also offered to invest $4,000 in the project, he said, which gave Astrea confidence in their commitment.

Grant awardees are paid out on a reimbursement basis. Each company that receives a grant has a two-year window to finish it. The completion rate for grant-funded projects is above 95% to date, according to Wisconsin Public Service Commission Communications Director Jerel Ballard. Only two of 209 awarded grants have been withdrawn because no work was done; one of 12 broadband grants funded with CARES Act dollars was not completed.

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Both Astrea and Norvado have led or partnered in numerous Broadband Expansion Grant projects since the program began in 2014. The grants are critical in bringing broadband to sparsely populated areas, Heigl and Young said, due to the high cost of laying fiber and the long time it takes to recoup that cost from the handful of customers served.

"We completely focus on rural broadband, unlike many providers," Heigl said. "We're trying to bring the big-city services into the hard-to-reach places as best we can."

The largest town the company serves has a population of 2,000; one of the smallest has 68.

Norvado's fiber footprint is in Bayfield County, although it also provides service in Douglas, Sawyer, Ashland and Price counties. The pandemic has been a game changer. In 2020, Young said they signed up 1,000 new customers within their existing network as people moved into home offices to work remotely.

"Broadband is the great equalizer. If we've learned nothing from COVID-19, we've learned that broadband can be the equalizer," Heigl said. "People can work remotely and do it efficiently and work for anybody in the world from a little town called Gordon, if they have the connectivity and access."

AirFiber also received a 2020 Broadband Expansion Grant for a fixed wireless project aimed at bringing internet access to an area that includes the towns of Parkland, Hawthorne, Amnicon, the village of Poplar and South Range. According to the application, it would improve service to 2,456 homes and 45 business locations.

When contacted, the company said it was not taking calls on the project.