Eau Claire Democrat Introducing Broadband Bills
Wednesday, February 5th, 2020 -- 7:28 AM
(WRN) -An Eau Claire Democrat is introducing a set of bills to help spread high speed rural broadband.An Eau Claire Democrat is introducing a set of bills to help spread high speed rural broadband. State Senator Jeff Smith says one major part will be to allow municipalities to set up their own local high speed internet, without having to find a private company to handle the service.
"This bill would actually repeal that law so that they wouldn't be stuck with that sort of hurdle to get over."
Smith says private companies have been hesitant at actually laying out broadband, and public options need to be made available to ensure that people could use the access.
"But once they proved that it was something that their residents wrapped their arms around and they could actually make a go of it, then the private industry was interested."
Smith says he'll be asking for an ambitious 100 million dollars in broadband grants to widely spread high speed access.
"We cannot have rural prosperity, if we do not have Rural Wisconsin that's connected to the rest of the world."
Smith says that broadband is the new electricity for rural areas, and that any community that wants a chance to thrive in the 21st century needs to have access to the rest of the world, or be left behind.
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