Evers Administration launches map showing 262,000 Wisconsinites lack access to high-speed internet as governor urges Republicans to approve $400 million high-speed internet proposal
MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers today urged Republicans in the Wisconsin State Legislature to approve substantial state budget investments to continue expanding high-speed internet across Wisconsin as new sweeping Trump Administration changes to the BEAD Program will effectively delay broadband funding Wisconsin expects to receive. Wisconsin Broadband Office (WBO) at the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin estimates that 39 percent of Wisconsinites lack access to affordable internet and that there are 262,000 locations that are considered unserved in Wisconsin as of December 2024.
Republicans on the state budget committee—the Joint Committee on Finance—are scheduled to take up Gov. Evers’ 2025-27 Executive Budget proposal to invest $400 million in the state’s Broadband Expansion Grant Program, which works to provide or improve broadband internet in unserved areas across the state. The vote comes as the Trump Administration recently announced sweeping new changes to the BEAD Program, effectively further delaying Wisconsin’s progress to bring affordable, high-speed internet to homes and businesses across the state.
Wisconsin is relying heavily on federal high-speed internet investments through the BEAD Program, largely because Republican lawmakers during the 2023-25 biennial budget process rejected the $750 million Gov. Evers proposed to expand high-speed internet and approved $0 new state dollars to expand broadband instead. At the time, Republicans cited an influx of federal investments Wisconsin expected to receive as their justification—investments including, for example, the BEAD Program that the Trump Administration is now delaying through unnecessary new policy changes.
“After Republican lawmakers approved $0 in the last state budget to expand high-speed internet, this is a make-or-break budget for my administration’s work to expand high-speed internet across our state. I’m proud my administration has done more to expand high-speed internet than any other administration in state history, but we have a lot of work to do to close the digital divide and make sure every Wisconsinite has access to high-quality, high-speed internet,” said Gov. Evers. “With the Trump Administration delaying broadband funding Wisconsin expects to receive—over my objections—the $400 million investment I proposed to help expand high-speed internet is critical. I’m urging Republican lawmakers to approve these important investments so my administration can continue our work building the 21st-century infrastructure that Wisconsin’s kids, families, communities, hospitals, and businesses, among others, need to compete in the 21st Century.”
Gov. Evers and the Evers Administration have done more to expand access to high-speed internet in Wisconsin than any other administration in state history. Since 2019, Gov. Evers has allocated more than $345 million in state and federal funds to expand high-speed internet, including the largest state investment in state history, which has helped more than 410,000 homes and businesses access new or improved broadband.
However, without meaningful and on-time state and federal investments, Wisconsin’s progress toward closing the digital divide will be hindered, especially as Republican lawmakers refused to provide any new state dollars to expand broadband in the last state budget to ensure Gov. Evers and the Evers Administration could continue building upon their progress without investments from the federal government.
Wisconsin expected and planned to receive over $1 billion through the BEAD Program, which was created under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and passed by the U.S. Congress in 2021, to provide high-speed internet to all Wisconsinites, including in rural areas. Indeed, the allocation was repeatedly used by Republican lawmakers to justify refusing to provide meaningful investments in high-speed internet during the 2023-25 biennial budget process.
However, the Trump Administration’s newly announced changes to the BEAD Program make investments in the State Broadband Expansion Grant increasingly more important in order to more efficiently and more affordably build broadband infrastructure that provides reliable service to more Wisconsin homes and businesses. Gov. Evers previously sent a letter to the Trump Administration last month in advance of the changes being announced urging the administration not to order these changes to ensure Wisconsin’s progress continued. Nevertheless, on June 6, 2025, the Trump Administration announced drastic changes to the BEAD Program that instead will result in significant delays and roll back three years of the implementation progress Wisconsin has already made.
In light of Republican lawmakers meeting today and the recently announced Trump Administration changes, Gov. Evers and the Evers Administration today announced new upgrades to the Wisconsin Broadband Map to make it easier for Wisconsin residents to view internet service speeds and track in-progress broadband grant construction. The interactive tool shows served and unserved locations in Wisconsin, including the homes and businesses currently lacking service that are eligible for funding under the State Broadband Expansion Grant Program. The newly upgraded Wisconsin Broadband Map is available here.
The map provides a snapshot of the areas of Wisconsin that are largely unserved, meaning locations without access to the infrastructure needed to bring 100 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 20 Mbps upload broadband into their home or business. The WBO estimates there are 262,000 locations that are considered unserved in Wisconsin.
Gov. Evers encourages Wisconsinites to visit the upgraded Wisconsin Broadband Map to learn more and to contact their state lawmakers to voice their support for critical investments in high-speed internet infrastructure. Wisconsinites can go to maps.legis.wisconsin.gov and enter their Wisconsin home address to find the contact information for their state representative and their state senator.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND ON THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DELAYING WISCONSIN HIGH-SPEED INTERNET FUNDING
The Evers Administration has been hard at work preparing for the implementation of the BEAD Program, which was created under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed by the U.S. Congress in 2021 and through which Wisconsin expects to receive over $1 billion, allocated based on state need and proportion of locations without broadband access, with the goal of providing high-speed internet to all Wisconsinites, including in rural areas and communities.
On June 6, 2025, the Trump Administration announced drastic changes to the BEAD Program. These changes will result in significant delays and roll back the implementation progress Wisconsin has already made. Gov. Evers previously sent a letter to the Trump Administration urging the administration not to order these changes, indicating the move would delay Wisconsin’s ability to continue expanding high-speed internet and getting the funding out as quickly as possible.
The new BEAD guidance overhauls the state’s plan and progress made to this point. Gov. Evers’ Administration, local officials, and partners have spent over two years preparing for BEAD. The Trump Administration’s new guidance rescinds all existing BEAD award selections and requires states to implement changes within 90 days before making awards again, further delaying the state’s progress. Since last July, the WBO has completed two rounds of BEAD grants, preliminarily awarding $540 million and receiving competitive applications for 98 percent of eligible locations.
These sweeping changes to the BEAD Program that are expected to impact Wisconsin’s ability to implement high-speed internet, include, but are not limited to:
- Less Reliable Broadband Technology:
- The BEAD Program previously prioritized the deployment of fiber technology because it provides more reliable service than other broadband technologies, such as unlicensed fixed wireless and satellite. Under the new guidance, BEAD will no longer prioritize fiber in grant scoring, shifting the program toward technologies and infrastructure with a shorter useful life and lower performance rather than fiber cable internet.
- Elimination of Local Coordination and Planning:
- Over the last three years, 52 county boards carefully reviewed possible internet service providers and chose to formally endorse providers to partner with. The new guidance removes these local endorsements, and local input will now be disqualified from consideration.
- Strikes Plans to Improve Internet Affordability:
- The state’s initial BEAD plan provided the requirement for states to set a value for low-cost internet service offering, which is now removed under the new BEAD guidance.
An online version of this release is available here.
