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w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m F e b r u a r y 2 0 2 0 • I NSIGH T | 27 Florence County also has become a state-certified Telecommuter Forward region. "We would love to have folks who are able to telecommute for their jobs who would love to live in a place that's a small community — 200,000 acres of public land. You can do all sorts of outdoor recreation and live in a small, friendly rural town that's very safe, has a great school system and you're not stuck in urban traffic," Gehlhoff says. In 2019, Shawano County also received a grant to expand broadband in rural areas of the county near Shawano Lake and west of the city. Bertram Communications is providing the area with fixed wireless service. Door, Waushara and Green Lake counties also received grant funding in 2019, as well as outlying parts of Brown and Outagamie counties. Another grant- funded project proposes to build a fiber route from the outskirts of Appleton to Elkhart Lake, connecting several communities in Calumet, Manitowoc and Sheboygan counties. "I've been promoting the fact that broadband is no longer a desire or a want. It's mandatory." — Dennis Heling, executive director of Shawano County Economic Progress Inc. " A S L O N G A S Y O U ' R E H O N E S T, P E O P L E W I L L RESPECT YOU. ONCE YOU LOSE THAT HONESTY, YOU'LL NEVER BE SUCCESSFUL." -GEORGE RUDER wausau | eau claire | green bay ruderware.com visit our blogs at blueinklaw.com Dennis Heling, executive director of Shawano County Economic Progress Inc., says broadband access has become a necessity for education, health care, tourism and agriculture. "I've been promoting the fact that broadband is no longer a desire or a want. It's mandatory," he says. No easy answer ere's no one straightforward solution to rolling out broadband in rural areas, says Cory Heigl, vice president and general manager of Astrea, formerly known as Packlerland Broadband. e why is simple. "You think about all those beautiful things that we take for granted in areas where we have connectivity and areas that don't, how we can curb the erosion of that diverse rural people out there and let them thrive and be part of the rest of the world. at, today, requires an internet connection," Heigl says. e how is less simple. Less densely populated areas face several challenges when it comes to connectivity. One of the biggest issues is density. As phone and cable companies build infrastructure, they know building a mile of cable will cost a certain dollar amount. As they decide where to lay that cable, [continued ] »