The Wisconsin demand survey points to substantial unmet demand for broadband services in every region of the state. Providers can view this result as an uncaptured market opportunity.

1. Wisconsin Demand Analysis
November 14, 2013

2. Wisconsin Residential Demand Survey
A total of 10,999 usable residential demand surveys
completed between June 2012 and October 10, 2013
Breakdown of Responses
Perceived Unmet Demand
 No Internet
1,463
Ave. County Rate
57%
 Inadequate Connection
4,542
Median County Rate
55%
 Adequate Connection
4,974
Range:
Low--Buffalo County
High--Vilas County
18%
78%

3. “Unmet demand” defined as
percent of population not
connected to Internet OR
current connection is
perceived “inadequate” to
meet current needs.

4. Counties with Low Percentage of Unmet Demand
Survey
Responses
Unmet
Demand
Survey
Responses
Unmet
Demand
Buffalo
97
18%
Winnebago
129
41%
Ozaukee
84
23%
Rock
141
41%
Vernon
58
24%
Florence
72
42%
Wood
221
29%
Green Lake
65
43%
Kenosha
208
30%
Eau Claire
118
43%
Milwaukee
75
32%
Polk
90
43%
Racine
40
32%
Shawano
30
43%
Waukesha
66
35%
Jefferson
145
43%
Sauk
1,327
36%
Walworth
54
44%
Barron
92
37%

5. Counties with Moderate Percentage of Unmet Demand
Survey
Responses
Unmet
Demand
Survey
Responses
Unmet
Demand
Dane
156
46%
Portage
66
58%
Outagamie
93
46%
Dunn
144
58%
Sheboygan
62
47%
Rusk
173
58%
Burnett
74
47%
Columbia
165
59%
Marathon
408
47%
Oneida
228
60%
Waupaca
63
48%
Iowa
205
60%
Brown
48
48%
Fond du Lac 1028
61%
Oconto
65
52%
Dodge
54
61%
Chippewa
172
54%
Price
543
62%
Iron
53
55%
Juneau
52
62%
Adams
96
55%
Bayfield
114
62%

6. Counties with High Percentage of Unmet Demand
Survey
Responses
Unmet
Demand
Survey
Responses
Unmet
Demand
Marquette
157
63%
Ashland
85
69%
Waushara
49
63%
Crawford
167
69%
Clark
179
64%
Pierce
137
70%
Jackson
174
64%
Grant
108
70%
Lafayette
142
65%
Taylor
195
72%
Richland
165
65%
Door
76
72%
Marinette
159
66%
Washburn
48
73%
Forest
175
66%
Kewaunee
242
74%
Douglas
78
67%
Lincoln
177
77%
Langlade
209
67%
Vilas
298
78%
St. Croix
625
68%

7. Counties Lacking Adequate Response to Evaluate Demand
Survey
Responses
Unmet
Demand
Survey
Responses
Unmet
Demand
Calumet
16
NA
Monroe
20
NA
Green
22
NA
Pepin
9
NA
La Crosse
17
NA
Sawyer
29
NA
Manitowoc
16
NA
Trempealeau
28
NA
Menomine
e
2
NA
Washington
21
NA

8. Reasons for not subscribing
Perceived lack of
availability and expense
are primary reasons why
Wisconsin residents do
not subscribe to a
broadband service
Percentage broken out by County group
Expense
Availability

9. Internet Download Speed Definitions Used
in Wisconsin Residential Demand Survey
Basic Internet (765kbps – 1.5M) - Staying connected, basic email and simple web browsing,
downloading video, etc.
Typical Internet (1.5M to 4M)- Remote monitoring (e.g., measuring vital signs), basic
telecommuting (work at home), streaming video or music (YouTube, Netflix, Spotify, etc),
complex web browsing, online education/classes, medium-size file/image sharing, etc.
Enhanced Internet (4M to 10M) - Online gaming, large-size file/image sharing, remote
medical diagnosis, basic medical record sharing, remote education (between two or more
educational sites), etc.
Premium Internet (10M to 100M)- Complex telemedicine (e.g. sharing/downloading
medical images), complex education services, complex gaming, complex telecommuting,
high quality telepresence/video conferencing.
Advanced Internet (100M to 1G)- High definition telemedicine, multiple interactive
education service, etc.

10. Typical or Enhance Internet speeds (1.5 to 10 Mbps)
most frequently cited as desired by those not
currently connected.
38%
38%
However cost is an issue. Only
a few willing to pay more than
$50 per month for service

11. DSL and cable modem most often used by
residents to access the Internet
Technologies Used by Residents to Access the Internet
37%
Cable modem enjoys advantage
over other technologies in
perceived consumer satisfaction.
4%
9%
Percent Residents Satisfied with Current Service
25%
11%
17%

12. Slow download/upload and difficulty streaming video most
frequently cited issues causing dissatisfaction with current
Internet service
File downloads/uploads take too long
Browsing on the Internet is too slow
Streaming video quality is jerky/not good
Video downloads/uploads take too long
Photo downloads/uploads take too long
Above cited as problems by at least 50% of residents presently not satisfied with
their service.

13. Residents in counties with high unmet demand are much less
likely to access a cable service and more likely to rely on satellite.
Counties with:
High Unmet
Demand
Moderate Unmet
Demand
Low Unmet
Demand

14. Only one-quarter of residents perceive
their current connection speed to be in
excess of 4 Mbps.
Current Reported Internet Access Speeds
Consumer satisfaction is
substantially less for residents with
slower Internet connections
31%
1%
31%
9%
13%
Percent of Residents Satisfied with Their
Current Service by Perceived Connection Speed

15. Broadband connection speeds are generally lower in high
unmet demand counties
Counties with:
High Unmet
Demand
Moderate
Unmet Demand
Low Unmet
Demand

16. Approximately 45% of Wisconsin broadband
subscribers connect at least three devices to the
Internet at home
The most frequently connected home devices are:
Computers
Smart phones
Tablets
Wireless routers
Television

17. Two-thirds of presently connected Wisconsin residents
desire to access a service delivering in excess of 4Mbps
download speed.
NA
LT 1.5 Mbps 5%
100 Mbps to
1 Gbps 11%
1.5 to 4 Mbps 22%
10 to 100 Mbps 25%
4 to 10 Mbps 31%
Desired Internet Connection Speeds

18. Wisconsin residents are not willing to pay more for “better”
broadband. In fact on average they are willing to pay even
less than presently.
Willing to Pay
Current Amount
Paid for Broadband

19. Residential broadband is important to
Wisconsin’s education and workforce
development objectives:
Just over 40 percent of Wisconsin households connected
to the Internet have at least one school age child (k-12)
One out of four new beneficiaries of connecting presently
unserved Wisconsin households is a school age child.
More than a quarter of Wisconsin households connected
to the Internet access distance education course.

20. Telecommuting has become very important
to the rural Wisconsin economy.
However……
58% of telecommuting households report their
current Internet connection is inadequate to meet
their needs.
40% of households in high unmet demand rural
counties rely on their broadband connection for
telecommuting at least part-time.

21. Wisconsin Business Demand Survey
A total of 1,120 usable residential demand surveys
completed between June 2012 and October 10, 2013
Breakdown of Responses
 No Internet
70
 Inadequate Connection
444
 Adequate Connection
606

22. On average, 46% of Wisconsin’s businesses have unmet demand
for broadband.
Dissimilar to the pattern for residents, business demand does not
vary significantly with county geography.
Unmet demand however, is closely associated with business size
and economic sector.
Percent Unmet Demand by Firm Size
Percent Unmet Demand by Sector
Number of Employees

23. Expense, lack of availability, and perceived absence of value are the
primary reasons some Wisconsin businesses do not adopt
broadband.
Reasons Cited by Businesses for Not Adopting Broadband
Among non-adopting
businesses, only half view
broadband as “critical” or
“very important”.
However, 75% indicate
they would adopt
broadband if and when
an affordable adequate
service became available.

24. Approximately 60 percent of non-adopting businesses desire a
broadband service delivering in excess of 4 Mbps download.
Non-Adopting Business Desired Speed
However, for many the
willingness/ability to pay is
limited
Non-Adopting Business Willingness to Pay

25.  More than 90 percent of Wisconsin businesses rely on
the Internet.
 More than three-quarters of these businesses consider
access to a broadband connection as “critical”.
Perceived Business Importance of Broadband

26. Approximately 40% of “connected” Wisconsin
businesses cite dissatisfaction with the their current
Internet Service. Expense and variable service quality
are the most frequently cited issues.
Business issues with current Internet Service
Expense
Variable
Service
Slow
Speeds
Customer
Service
Percent of 444 survey respondents reporting current service not
adequate.

27. Broadband is a significant business expense. Costs vary with size and type of
business
Distribution of Current Broadband Service Costs For Wisconsin
Businesses
Half of Wisconsin’s
businesses would be
willing to pay at least 10
percent more if they
could receive their
“optimal level of
broadband service”

28. Summary Points
• For Wisconsin residents, the greatest unmet demand is in low-density
and difficult terrain rural locations that are costly to serve.
• For businesses, unmet demand is more closely related to size an type
of businesses. Location within the state appears less important.
• Perceived consumer satisfaction varies with technology. Cable
generally provides the highest satisfaction and satellite the lowest.
• The majority of Wisconsin residents report their current connection
offers less than 4 Mbps. Yet approximately two-thirds of Wisconsin
residents and businesses desire connections in excess of 4 Mbps.
• Expense and perceived availability are two major barriers to adoption.
• In general residents are not willing to pay more for “better service”
• Many businesses, however, are willing to pay more to receive their
optimal level of service.

29. Implications for Rural Economic Development
The highest unmet demand for broadband is in difficult and costly to serve rural Wisconsin.
Rural telecommuters and agriculture businesses in particular cite deficiencies of current
broadband service.
Cable and DSL wireline technologies enjoy the highest level of consumer satisfaction (along
with fixed wireless). While technology continues to change mobile wireless and satellite do
not presently provide the robust level of broadband service demanded by rural residents.
In the absence of major technological breakthrough, technological change by itself is unlikely
to fully address the rural unmet demand challenge. Wireline and fixed wireless solutions are
still needed.
A limited willingness/ability to pay on the part of rural consumers hinders the business case
for additional provider investment for all technologies.
Public policy should consider incentives that improve the business case for investment in
high and moderate unmet demand rural counties.

30. Implications for Wisconsin Youth
One in four people that would benefit from fulfilling the demand for broadband service to
Wisconsin’s presently unserved households is a school age child.
As Wisconsin considers its options to extend Gigabit connections to every school and
library in the state, it will be important to also recognize the reality that not all of
Wisconsin’s youth have a broadband connection at home.
Even where there is a broadband connection at home, those connections are not always
robust enough to support data downloads and uploads as well as streaming video that is
core to contemporary education.
More than a quarter of Wisconsin’s households have at least one person that takes a
distance education course from home and must rely on a robust broadband connection.
40 percent of Wisconsin’s connected households have at least one school age child using
the computer at home.
Public policy designed to improve lives for Wisconsin’s young people must recognize the
full potential of public investments to extend broadband to schools and libraries must also
address connections to homes where there is unmet demand.

31. Implications for State and Local Leadership
57 percent of Wisconsin’s households report an unmet demand for broadband service.
Notably, while unmet demand is more significant in some counties, there is unmet demand in
all Wisconsin Counties.
Unmet demand for broadband translates into missed opportunities for job development,
education, health care, public safety and the efficient delivery of government services.
Solutions involve public and private collaboration that include both expanded supply and the
connection to unmet demand. This can be accomplished in part through leadership initiatives
to improve public awareness of opportunities.
One reason unmet demand is not always recognized is that the individual demand is not
always significant enough to support a business case for expanded private broadband
investment. State and local leaders working together with the private sector can play an
important role in “aggregating” local level unmet demand to a level that it becomes more
feasible to recover necessary private investment.

32. Implications for Provider Opportunities
The Wisconsin demand survey points to substantial unmet demand for broadband services
in every region of the state. Providers can view this result as an uncaptured market
opportunity.
Consumer education can play a role in addressing this market opportunity. For example, the
survey results indicate that many residential consumers desire to have more robust Internet
connection, but are generally not willing to pay more for a more robust service. Working in
collaboration with local and state public leadership, providers can provide information on
the cost of expanded investment as well as the value for local residents and businesses that
can be achieved from more robust broadband. Both may improve willingness to pay or
alternatively advocacy for additional financial incentives from state and federal government.
The demand data provides more transparent information on the location of unmet demand
and opportunities for demand aggregation.
Working together with potential new customers and local leadership, solutions to establish
the appropriate business case for investment can be explored.