Marathon County broadband task force to review ISP proposals ahead of Feb. endorsement
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Summary
The Marathon County broadband task force will review Internet service provider proposals next week and aims to recommend endorsements at the county board's February meeting; a county supervisor said state funding is available to serve thousands of un- or underserved homes, including 8,443 in Marathon County.
Supervisor Robinson, chairing the county's broadband task force, told the Marathon County Board of Supervisors on Jan. 16 that the group will meet next Monday to review proposals from Internet service providers and prepare recommendations for the county board in February.
The task force will evaluate proposals from Bertram, Frontier, Charter and an ISP referred to in the record as "Bug Tussle," and has been approached by an additional provider from Cameron. Robinson said the review will consider which areas of the county each provider proposes to serve and how quickly they can complete service. He said the county's endorsement of a provider earns that applicant seven points in the state's evaluation criteria.
Robinson said the state program the task force is working with was discussed in the meeting as having "$1,055,000,000 available through the state of Wisconsin to serve 206 on or underserved homes," and that "8,443 are in Marathon County," as read into the record. The transcript contains unclear phrasing for the statewide household totals; the board member quoted those figures during his update.
Robinson said the task force will seek to ensure there are enough applications to cover the entire county and that recommendations for endorsement of one or more proposals will be brought to the county board for action at the February meeting.
The update was delivered during the board's regular meeting at the Marathon County Courthouse Assembly Room.
