BCCAN FAQ
BCCAN (Brown County Community Area Network) was a dark fiber network built initially by Brown County + City of Green Bay and NEW Water. Brown County expanded the footprint from about 40 miles to about 130 miles.
The network provided dark fiber, point to point services. It had no monitoring, no direct internet service and could not offer services such as metro ethernet. All internet service was through a 3rd party provider, generally WiscNet.
Various partners leased fiber from the County to help offset operating expenses. BCCAN costs approximately $400k annually to operate (not including depreciation). It operated at a loss.
Customers: It provided fiber to the County, some municipalities, Green Bay schools, Howard Suamico schools and various other entities.
Through a public RFI process Brown County solicited feedback from fiber and internet service providers to provide access to 911 towers, other county sites, municipalities, and the community as a whole. Bug Tussel was selected. They requested a $27.2mil loan to do everything requested in the RFI and additional benefits were negotiated.
- Bug Tussel is taking over all what was BCCAN (Brown County Community Area Network).
- The County will retain at no cost for the life of the fiber all existing fiber used by the COUNTY for COUNTY gov purposes. The Brown County internal private fiber network includes:
- The original BCCAN fiber used by Brown County government for government purposes.
- It also includes 12 pair of fiber on approximately 270 miles of new fiber in the Bug Tussel construction.
- The network referenced in points 1 and 2 is effectively owned by Brown County but operated by Bug Tussel.
- Any intergov access to the Brown County owned fiber must be approved by Brown County, will require a contract, and will likely include both one-time and ongoing costs.
- All operating, maintenance and repair costs will be transferred to Bug Tussel for existing BCCAN fiber.
- The paperwork started in fall of 2022. The contract was negotiated through summer 2023, and resolution authorized by the Brown County Board of Supervisors. The transition date is 12/31/2023 (end of BCCAN) 1/1/2024.
- After 12/31/2023 the County fiber is exclusively for County government use. Any intergov access to the Brown County owned fiber must be approved by Brown County, will require a contract, and will likely include both one-time and ongoing costs.
- The construction of new fiber and towers contractually must be complete by 2026 but is expected to be done by late 2024 or early 2025.
- There are no planned outages. It is likely that there will be some scheduled outages to update fiber routes and improve overall access in the next 2 to 3 years. Any scheduled outages will be communicated by Bug Tussel well in advance of the change
- There are NO outages planned for Q1 2024. Outages may occur as NEW fiber is connected to what was the BCCAN network.
- Bug Tussel can provide internet service and other unique services that the COUNTY could not. Further the Bug Tussel network operations center (NOC) will be available 24x7x365 to support your fiber, transport and/or internet service needs.
- The County will save approximately $9mil in ARPA funds and defer approximately $30mil of future expenses over the next 15 years. The fiber expected to have a 40 year or longer life, so those future expenses are eliminated.
- The BCCAN fiber will become available to local businesses and residences along the fiber route.
- The loan will result in improved cellular service throughout the area with 5 new cell towers
- New wireless internet service up to 50mbps will be available for rural areas.
There is no cost. This is a loan only that Bug Tussel is obligated to pay back in 15 years. This also includes a reduction in operating costs for the life of the fiber, resulting in the elimination of the BCCAN department and FTE.
Yes. Bug Tussel will invest $27.2mil in new fiber and towers throughout Brown County.
Service will remain the same till the end of your current agreement. At that point you can negotiate with Bug Tussel for services.
- No, all contracts will be honored.
- Service quality will increase as the lines will be monitored.
- Brown County will stop billing and Bug Tussel will start billing.
All existing agreements, MOUs, contracts, and trades will be honored.
All existing contracts will be completed and the BCCAN asset will be transferred to Bug Tussel.
A customer requesting new services, changes, or terminations after 10/25/2023 must be coordinated through Bug Tussel. The contracts will effectively replace “Brown County” with “Bug Tussel” with all other language remaining in force.
Yes. New services that will be available include active optical network technology, monitoring, and direct internet services.
Education funding “E-rate Q&A”
Yes. Bug Tussel has an E-rate ID and is working to transition services through USAC and E-rate from Brown County to Bug Tussel with NO CHANGES in rates for existing contracts.
- No. The contracts will remain as they exist as of 10/25/2023.
- Bug Tussel may offer competitive service rates for new services or contract renewals.
Brown County will stop billing. Bug Tussel will start billing at the same rate. reimbursement would be the same, with the school submitting to USAC for reimbursement with the different SPIN but same rate.
Yes. Bug Tussel will be able to offer more options and services than what BCCAN could offer.
The agreement between Brown County and Bug Tussel requires Bug Tussel to honor all agreements which includes all current rates and discounts.
Yes. Bug Tussel will be providing fiber services near rural town halls, Village of Denmark, Village of Wrightstown, Village of Pulaski, and Village of Hobart. Schools and local government will have a NEW option to use Bug Tussel in those locations.
This process started in 11/7/2023 and will continue through the 1/1/2024 transition date after. The Bug Tussel E-rate contact is Derek Barber at (920) 639-5531.
Yes. Bug Tussel intends to expand services to rural villages in Brown County and throughout their service areas.
