By Brian E. Clark
For WisBusiness.com
Dane County Circuit Court Judge Peter Anderson is expected to rule today on a University of Wisconsin motion to dismiss a lawsuit that would stop the university from using a $32 million federal grant to expand broadband access.
The suit was filed on July by Access Wisconsin, which represents 30 small, independent telephone companies. The organization claims the university is unfairly using public dollars to compete with private firms to develop broadband. The group also contends UW is “piggybacking” off existing networks.
On July 21, Anderson denied a request by the telephone companies to issue a temporary restraining order to stop work. The university has already spent $1 million on the project.
The suit names the UW Board of Regents, the CCI Systems cable company, the state Department of Transportation and WiscNet, a 20-year-old, nonprofit service run by UW-Extension. According to the Department of Public Instruction, 75 percent of the state’s public schools and 95 percent of the public libraries get Internet access via WiscNet.
If Access Wisconsin prevails, UW spokesman David Giroux said the university would be forced to halt work on the effort to provide broadband to public schools, libraries, colleges and other public entities in several rural communities.
“We’d have to return the money to the federal government,” he said.
Giroux likened the effort to the state building a public highway.
“The local internet service providers could then tap into it,” he said. “We’re open to that.”
But Bill Esbeck, executive director of the Wisconsin State Telecommunications Association, said the roughly 600 miles of fiber that UW plans to lay to Superior, Platteville, Chippewa Valley and Wausau would duplicate infrastructure that is already in the ground.
“Moreover, the university should not be competing with private sector telecommunications providers,” he said. “The statutes make that activity illegal.”
Giroux, however, was skeptical about how much fiber has been laid.
“We’ve asked them to show us and they wouldn’t,” he said.
“Besides, if it were already there, why would these communities be clamoring for broadband?” he asked. “We’ll simply be building the system and then handing over the keys to the communities. We won’t be laying fiber to residences.”
Giroux said the WiscNet system would improve Internet access in the communities by “leaps and bounds, both in terms of capacity and long-term cost.”
Bob Bocher, a telecom consultant to the state Department of Public Instruction, said he is concerned that rural schools and libraries might have to wait years to get broadband if the federal grant has to be returned.
“It’s also about affordability, too,” he said. “When we ran the figures at DPI, most schools would have to pay three to four to 10 times as much for internet access by going with small, local telecommunications providers.
“And this comes at a time when our school districts and libraries are facing severe budget cuts. How can a school justify paying so much more when they could get it from WiscNet at a fraction of the cost?
“From our perspective, how long are our schools and libraries supposed to wait before they can get high-speed broadband at affordable prices?” he asked.
