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In Wisconsin, that means connecting about the last 8.9 percent of the state\u2019s homes and businesses, according to a state document<\/a>. Unconnected locations are concentrated in northern, central and southwest Wisconsin.<\/p>\n Kenney\u2019s office divided the state into units of under-served households<\/a> and fielded bids from internet companies for each one. It made hundreds of preliminary awards.<\/p>\n On June 6, the government ordered<\/a> states to revoke those awards and redo the application process under new rules it said would connect households more quickly and cost-effectively.<\/p>\n Now, states must be neutral between bids for fiber-optic, wireless or satellite internet.<\/p>\n \u201cRemoving the preference for a single technology will bring the full force of the competitive marketplace to bear and allow American taxpayers to obtain the greatest return on their investment,\u201d the government\u2019s press release<\/a> said.<\/p>\n States must choose \u201cthe combination of project proposals with the lowest overall cost.\u201d Since projects can be interconnected, Kenney said, that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean choosing the cheapest project in every location.<\/p>\n Several labor, local input and low-income affordability requirements for bids were also eliminated.<\/p>\n To factor in local input, projects that were endorsed by their local governments got a scoring bump. Kenney called its elimination the \u201cbiggest loss\u201d under the new rules.<\/p>\n \u201cWe really find that when local government and people on the ground get involved, projects are stronger,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The federal announcement gave states 90 days to redo the process and select winning proposals.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were kind of asked to do two years of work in 90 days,\u201d Kenney said.<\/p>\n But she said her office managed. She expressed optimism about the program\u2019s future and said she expects most providers will re-apply.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ll have more applications, and hopefully that\u2019ll get the state the bargain the federal government is hoping [for],\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will still bring great broadband to lots of residents in Wisconsin who need it,\u201d Kenney said.<\/p>\n Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick previewed<\/a> possible changes to the program in March. Like many federal programs, Congress funded and created<\/a> BEAD, with the executive branch later specifying its rules<\/a>. New changes target those rules, not the initial law.<\/p>\n County officials, internet companies weigh in on fiber vs. wireless<\/p>\n At least two local officials believe the program\u2019s addition of satellite and wireless internet \u2014 which is often cheaper than fiber-optic \u2014 could hamper its goals in their counties.<\/p>\n Jen Schmitz works on farms and staffs a flood recovery nonprofit. She also chairs the Monroe County Board of Supervisor\u2019s Broadband Special Committee.<\/p>\n She said cell towers and satellite internet have had a spotty track record in certain parts of Monroe County, including at her house.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s in the ridges and valleys, it\u2019s in a very narrow part of the valley. And especially when the trees have leaves on them, the cellular service gets very, very patchy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Further north, in Oneida County, BEAD was meant to pay for the final hookups in a $28 million fiber-optic internet project launched in 2023, said Tony Pharo, who directs the Oneida County Economic Development Corporation.<\/p>\n Now, he thinks local geography will make digging cables the more costly option under BEAD.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have all these lakes, we have swamps and we have a lot of rocks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But he said wireless could be a problem in his county \u2014 home to Minocqua and Rhinelander \u2014 where towers for a small year-round population could get overloaded by throngs of summer tourists.<\/p>\n Kenney said she understands concerns about wireless and satellite internet. But she said, if done right, modern wireless technology can be as reliable as fiber-optic.<\/p>\n Some Wisconsin providers still use older wireless equipment, she said. But others, she said, are investing in signals that can get through leafy trees and buildings.<\/p>\n But she echoed Pharo, pointing out that large traffic increases, like from a business moving to town, can strain wireless towers.<\/p>\n For Wisconsin internet company Bug Tussel, the revocation of preliminary awards \u2014 which Bug Tussel had more than a dozen of \u2014 made the company \u201cscratch our head a little bit,\u201d said Executive Director of Public Affairs Scott Feldt.<\/p>\n But he said it\u2019s also an opportunity for the company, which does fiber-optic and wireless.<\/p>\n \u201cWe now have to go back and take a look at how we want to strategize applying under the new rules,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere may be additional opportunities that we could do from a fixed wireless presence,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n The main consideration for his company, he said, is weighing new opportunities against their financial and staffing capacity.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want our eyes to be bigger than our stomachs, like you see with kids at a buffet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n According to Kenney, the Public Service Commission is reopening applications to providers this week.<\/p>\n Wisconsin Public Radio, \u00a9 Copyright 2025, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two and half years of work were in the books. Preliminary awards were made. Then last month, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[174,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-8856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-internet","8":"tag-internet","9":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Broadband\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ap-071002038082-1-scaled.jpg\")
Toby Talbot\/AP Photo<\/p>\n