WAUSAU, WI (WSAU-WAOW) — For months a new broadband study was in the works in Marathon County looking for ways to expand broadband access. That study from Design Nine, a consultant company, hopes to make broadband available to 100-percent of county residents.
“It’s estimated that 65 percent of the county has adequate broadband which means 35 percent does not,” said John Robinson, Marathon County Infrastructure Committee Chair. “We’re underserved and there’s a significant amount of population that can’t rely on the internet on a daily basis.”
Rural areas are underserved.
“We know a lot of our rural areas are still struggling to have any sort of access to high speed internet,” said Melinda Osterberg, UW-Madison Extension Development Educator. “Some are even struggling with having access to landline phones.”
The new assessment study will be the first since the last one was created in 2009.
“More and more schools are requiring students to have access to the internet, healthcare, and communication of information and business,” Robinson said. “Whether it’s work at home or working in rural parts of Marathon County.”
“One of the things we did learn through the study is that broadband needs increased about 30 percent each year,” Osterberg stated. “So if you think about that moving forward, what’s the demand going to look like in 2025? The demand is going to be much greater than it is today.”
Within the new assessment there are several different options or solutions to bring change.
“We could potentially lay fiber,” Robinson added. “Fiber optic lines to towers and to also build towers but rely on the private sector to transmit the signal to individual homes, and actually provide the services.”
Marathon County’s infrastructure committee will review the report at its next meeting in February.
