Turns out it was right there in the “how do I use this site” notes in the Illinois map:
“Others represent a group of providers working together, for example Strategic Management is made up of Shawnee Communications, Mosaic Technologies, Adams Telephone Cooperative, WK&T, and Peninsula Fiber Network.” Mosaic is in Wisconsin, WK&T is in Kentucky, and Peninsula is in Michigan. Shawnee and Adams are in downstate Illinois. That gives no clue to why they bid on areas near me and Mike. I was going to guess Mosaic was closest to us, but they are in northern Wisconsin, closer to Minneapolis. Maybe they bid on a bunch of areas and those are the ones where they were the winning bidder. Maybe they intend to subcontract most of the work out. I would think FTTH involves a lot of install work and you have to do locates whenever anyone digs (unless they plan on aerial). Maybe they intend to hire some local installers, give them a truck, and dispatch them out of their homes. Illinois broadband folks stated a preference for making awards to Illinois companies, so maybe having Shawnee and Adams in the consortium got them some awards even if Amazon Kuiper would have been cheaper? I don’t know, just throwing spaghetti at the wall. From: AF <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Jason McKemie Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2025 3:39 PM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Strategic Management, LLC My fiber service area is adjacent to some of the awarded locations, no other last mile fiber providers in that area. Curious what their plan is with that. On Sat, Sep 27, 2025, 10:05 AM Ken Hohhof <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: I saw that also. Has pretty much a placeholder website from last year saying it is a consortium. Searching the Illinois Secy of State business registration database, the only active entity with that name was registered in 2024 with an address of 120 W. LANE STREET, EQUALITY,IL <https://www.google.com/maps/search/120+W.+LANE+STREET,+EQUALITY,IL?entry=gmail&source=g> . A search on that address comes up with Shawnee Communications. Equality is in middle of nowhere southern Illinois, about 50 miles east of Carbondale. Looking at the locations they were awarded, and given that the state broadband office awarded the most difficult locations to Amazon Kuiper, my guess would be these involve existing fiber ISPs building to areas adjacent to their current footprint. Otherwise it makes no sense to me they would bid on these dispersed locations and bid low enough to fall below the threshold for LEO. Maybe some grant writing firm rounded up a bunch of small ISPs and offered to create a consortium to bid for BEAD money. Focusing on areas they could expand into for cheap if they got some govt money. Just my guess, probably wrong. From: AF <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > On Behalf Of Jason McKemie Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2025 9:05 AM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Subject: [AFMUG] Strategic Management, LLC Anyone heard of these guys? They got a pretty big award for BEAD funding for fiber here in Illinois. -- AF mailing list [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
-- AF mailing list [email protected] http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
