The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin that the Wisconsin Broadband Office received 124 applications requesting $221.6 million for the Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program.
Of those, 25 were submitted seeking funding for projects in the New North.
The PSC is expected to award up to $42 million under the American Rescue Plan Act’s Capital Projects Fund to administer Broadband Infrastructure Grants and invest in broadband construction and deployment, which will provide high-quality internet to locations that lack access to adequate, affordable service. The ratio of requested funding to available funding is the highest for any grant round since the first in 2014.
The CPF is designed to address the barriers to internet access that existed before but were made worse by the coronavirus pandemic. Broadband Infrastructure Grant funds will be used to make necessary investments in broadband infrastructure designed to provide consistent, reliable, and high-performance broadband service to areas most impacted by the coronavirus pandemic in Wisconsin. The funding is available to construct broadband infrastructure projects to deploy reliable internet service that will meet or exceed 100/100 Megabits per second symmetrical speed internet service and include at least one low-cost option for work, education, and health monitoring.
During the application review, PSC will evaluate each grant based on, among other factors, affordability of service, project design and technology, applicant capacity to complete the work, and community engagement and support. PSC is expected to announce grant recipients by spring 2024.
A list of Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program applicants is available here. A flag map of proposed project areas is available here. More information on the Capital Projects Fund can be found on the Capital Projects Broadband page on the PSC website.
