Central Wisconsin ISP plans fiber-to-the-premise broadband

Lemonweir Valley Telecom announced this week a multi-million-dollar project to bring higher-speed broadband to a rural area of central Wisconsin.

The firm plans to build a fiber-to-the-premise infrastructure in which business and residential customers will receive direct fiberoptic connections with speeds around 20 megabits per second, according to a company press release. End-user pricing was not yet announced. The service area includes the City of New Lisbon, Village of Camp Douglas and Village of Hustler.

"We especially applaud this unique and innovative project and the $3.0 million initial financial investment they are making to their network," said Bill Esbeck, executive director of the Wisconsin State Telecommunications Association, in the release.

Similar speeds have recently become available in urban areas. For comparison, in Madison, AT&T offers connections up to 6 megabits/s; Charter up to 16 megabits/s; and TDS up to 25 megabits/s through fiber, which it notes has more limited availability than its regular offerings.

On the national front, Qwest Communications announced 20 megabit DSL in 23 top U.S. markets this April, for $104.99 per month, which does not involve fiber to the premise but was billed as the fastest DSL yet. Meanwhile, Verizon Communications Inc. said it has started offering some fiber-to-the-home connections that can reach 50 megabits.