Superior, Wis., overcomes terrain and mediocre internet challenges with its open-access fiber network

Since 2021, City Councilors, Administration and Staff have worked together to lay the groundwork to ensure the expansion of affordable, accessible broadband service for the citizens of Superior.

“Reliable internet connectivity is essential in the 21st century.  Just as electricity enabled the first industrial revolution, fiber optic infrastructure is the foundation for the digital revolution,” said Jim Paine, Mayor of Superior in 2022. “Residents in our city have been paying too much for mediocre access to the internet. As Superior’s Mayor, I have made it a key priority of the City to build and establish local control of this essential infrastructure.”

Challenging build-out terrain

One of the key issues that has held back investment in Superior’s broadband infrastructure is the nature of the terrain where it resides.

Being part of the Superior Upland, which is a region with ancient, rocky foundations from the Canadian Shield that have been shaped by both complex prehistoric geology and relatively recent glacial activity, Superior’s terrain has varied features including steep, rocky cliffs and sandy spits along the coast, rolling hills, and dramatic drops like the 165-foot-high Big Manitou Falls at Pattison State Park.

This terrain makes it challenging for providers to build underground infrastructure like conduit to support new fiber networks.

“There are just physical aspects to the North Shore that have made it a wee bit expensive to drill here to make that investment in fiber,” Becken said. “Duluth, which is the bigger area, is mostly rock; we're mostly clay.”

Given Superior's geographic challenges, Becken added that it was easy for traditional providers to not invest in Superior and Duluth. "For us to make this investment in fiber, it's a big thing," she said. "While other markets might be be served by Spectrum, there is very little fiber within the city of Superior.”

Regardless of the challenges, ConnectSuperior is moving forward with its network build. It has hooked up its first neighborhood with customers. “We get new customers every day who are signing up for the open access,” Becken said. “Fiber drops are happening every day. Our Altiplano Open Access platform is firing up every day, with new ONTs and new customers.”

Enabling broadband choice

Superior’s City Council is investing in building an open-access fiber network. According to Wisconsin State law, the City could only serve as a wholesale provider where other ISPs would rent facilities to bring services to consumers and businesses.

With a pilot area built, city crews will expand north of Belknap Street, where fiber enters the city from Duluth, Minn. The area north of Belknap Street was selected because it includes the location where fiber comes into the city from Duluth. This will allow Internet service providers to quickly connect to Superior's network easily.

“We chose the open access model because of Wisconsin state law,” Becken said. “In the last year just it's been pedal to the metal, getting the outside plant done, getting the inside plant done, and now getting our residents hooked up to through fiber to the home."

The city will own and operate the new wholesale open-access fiber network, which ISPs can use to deliver ultra-broadband services to 26,000 currently underserved residents.

ConnectSuperior offers two different internet service providers: Advance Stream and Superion. The city expected to have 80 customers make the switch within the first year. But they have already surpassed that with close to 100 recently joining.

Becken said, “We have multiple ISPs on the network, and that will continue to change as time goes on as well.”

The city is making the network build happen with $5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.

Timing for putting the ARPA funding for the network was of the essence. The city faced two key challenges: the funds had to be spent by Dec. 31, 2026. and uncertainty about the ARPA funds as the new administration took control of the White House in January.

“The investment was decided through our City Council as the use of our ARPA funds,” Becken said. “The major first investment was through that, and then it'll be an enterprise fund. So, in the future, it would be funded by revenue.”

Forward-looking network

To get the network going, the city has employed the help of Nokia, together with dMCA/LightSpeed and ePlus. This trio of integrators and partners will work closely with City of Superior staff to deploy the network.

ConnectSuperior said it chose “Nokia through a rigorous RFI process and has found them to be engaged, dedicated, and helpful partners in this project.”

Leveraging Nokia’s fiber solution, the City of Superior can quickly establish a future-ready network with support for a full range of PON technologies from XGS and 25G to future 50G PON and beyond. Nokia’s solution allows the city to optimize its network and gain the flexibility needed to address specific business cases or needs.

Nokia is also providing its cloud-native Altiplano Open Access platform to enable neutral-host network sharing for fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) services. Based on unique operational isolation and process automation, it allows wholesalers to become the infrastructure partner of choice with broadband services.

To support the City of Superior’s network backbone, Nokia will also deploy its carrier-grade 7750 Service Routers.

Fayyaz Patwa, head of technology for U.S. regional providers at Nokia, said that its products align well with ConnectSuperior’s forward-thinking strategy. 

“They're looking at what's coming down in the next five to ten years, and the platforms that we're deploying today can support,” he said. “Our fiber to the home platforms can provide support 25 Gbps on the same platform and 50 Gbps and 100 Gbps in the future for Superior and other regional providers.” 

He added that “one would argue that 100 gigabit PON may not be needed for the next decade, but that's what gives the city the reassurance and the investment, right?”

Becken agreed and added that “we found Nokia to be a very valuable partner, not only when it came to having the equipment we wanted and needed to serve the needs that we had now and in the future, but also to be a very strong partner in big questions and small questions as they came up as we implemented everything.”

While the initial focus for ConnectSuperior is connecting customers with new fiber-based broadband services, the city sees Nokia’s platform as a foundation for other applications that could improve how the city interacts with its residents and businesses. “One of the big reasons why we went with Nokia was because it'll grow with us,” Becken said. “So, as those new opportunities come to what cities can do with technology like those smart city applications.”

She added that while it has no specific plans outside providing connectivity yet, ConnectSuperior wanted to start with equipment that “met us where we are, but could also grow into and grow alongside, so that was a big part of all of our decisions moving forward is making those choices that serve us now and give us flexibility in the future, whatever that might be.”

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