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How Chippewa Valley, Wis., Counties Are Planning Their Own Broadband Expansion

Two agencies are dubbing their joint venture as Ntera, and they are beginning with construction of broadband in Holcombe this fall, with more expansion plans to follow.

(TNS) -- Lake Holcombe area resident and school board President Corey Grape said it can be challenging to get quality internet service in the northwestern corner of Chippewa County.

“There is a lot of dead space, and inability to connect, even on phone lines,” Grape said.

However, that should soon change. Cornell-based Chippewa Valley Electric Cooperative and New Auburn-based Citizens Connected on Tuesday announced plans to expand broadband services throughout underserved areas across the Chippewa Valley.

The two agencies are dubbing their joint venture as Ntera, and they are beginning with construction of broadband in Holcombe this fall, with more expansion plans to follow.

“I think it’s going to be huge,” Grape said. “Opening that opportunity to the area — technology is where it’s at. It’s a huge investment into the infrastructure for the area. There is a need, and they are reacting to it.”

Lake Holcombe schools Superintendent Jeff Mastin said his district doesn’t send internet-capable devices home with students because so many can’t connect to the web.

“More than 50 percent don’t have internet because they either can’t afford it or don’t have access to it,” Mastin said.

There is currently a fiber line along Highway 29, Mastin said. The plan is to have that line branch and go directly north along Highway 27 through Cornell, Lake Holcombe and Ladysmith. Mastin said the district has obtained state and federal grants to cover the estimated $80,000 it will cost to connect the school — which is about a mile west of Highway 27 — to the fiber line.

Mastin is eager to have the improved broadband in the Holcombe area. Right now, there is internet in the school building only.

“We’ll be able to have our community having easier access to the internet,” Mastin said. “We could give (students) more devices to allow them to connect to it. It’s definitely needed for education in the 21st century.”

Chippewa Valley Electric Cooperative serves Chippewa, Rusk, Taylor, Dunn and Barron counties, with about 7,500 accounts over 1,300 miles of line. The distribution agency has 21 full-time employees. Citizens Connected reaches 3,200 homes in parts of Barron, Chippewa and Rusk counties, with 19 full-time workers.

“Surveys conducted by both (agencies) have identified Holcombe as one of the many areas in the Chippewa Valley that have no internet access, or limited access at best,” the company said in a news release Tuesday. “Ntera’s mission is to provide homes and businesses with leading-edge internet, video and voice services through a 100 percent fiber optic network. Ntera will provide fiber-fast internet with speeds up to 1 gig.”

Jill Petska, Citizens Connected spokeswoman, declined to say the total cost of the project but added that it is self-funded without outside dollars. Petska said the fiber line also will go along Highway M and is already being installed near the south shore of Lake Holcombe.

“We’re very excited to bring services to the underserviced areas,” Petska said.

The two agencies haven’t decided where future broadband expansions will occur, she said, but it will be in their existing service areas.

©2017 the Leader-Telegram (Eau Claire, Wis.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.