Our broadband involvement

Alliant Energy is partnering with local Internet Service Providers (ISP), leveraging combined assets to benefit local communities. In other words, because the two entities use the same broadband transmission lines, they can combine forces. The ISP leases excess fiber-optic strands that Alliant Energy already has underground to deliver fast, reliable internet service to the rural community.

Alliant Energy has teamed up with Wisconsin-based ISPs to bring broadband access to more customers.

• In January 2024, we announced our second partnership with MHTC. This time, the partnership will boost broadband service for about 225 households and businesses in the Village of Cobb.

Photo caption. To mark the beginning of construction, representatives from Alliant Energy, MHTC, Tri-State Directional Drilling, LLC, and the Village of Cobb met on-site to discuss the Village of Cobb broadband project. Pictured (from L to R): Kory Kolb, owner, Tri-State Directional Drilling LLC; Mark Whalen, owner, Tri-State Directional Drilling LLC; Liz Lenz, Trustee, Village of Cobb; Jeffrey Bell, manager OSP Construction, MHTC; Laura Seals, Infrastructure Analyst II, Alliant Energy; Robert Roelli, president, Village of Cobb; Pat O’Connor, Senior Strategic Project Manager, Alliant Energy; Peter Boland, Director of Operations, MHTC; David de Leon, president of Alliant Energy's Wisconsin energy company; and Lucas Pechacek, Senior Manager Federal Funding Office, Alliant Energy.


• In August 2022, our announcement highlighted our partnership with Comelec Internet Services to bring fiber to the home internet service, with speeds up to one gigabit, to nearly 550 households and businesses in the Village of Hazel Green.
• In June 2022, we announced our partnership with MHTC to bring high-speed internet service to the Village of Hollandale, a community located about 30 miles southwest of Madison. Construction began quickly, and by late September 2022, nearly 150 households and businesses could access internet service with a speed up to two gigabits per second. 

In addition, we are:

• Revitalizing our TechRefresh program and breathing new life into recycling computers and other technologies. In partnership with Cascade Asset Management and area businesses, the equipment is ‘refreshed’ and donated to non-profit groups, schools, libraries and a variety of local groups who are also focusing on addressing the digital access gap.
• Working with the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) to advocate for the passage of broadband bills recently introduced in Congress. These bills would increase funding opportunities for digital infrastructure.
• Investing in technology, including laying fiber, to enhance connections between electric facilities and devices in order to make the energy grid smarter, stronger, cleaner and more resilient, reliable and secure.
• Working alongside public utilities in several states to find ways to connect utility infrastructure to broadband providers to help those in need.
• Partnering with organizations and associations dedicated to advancing broadband by closing the digital divide.