Delivering Broadband

Photos by Hazim Happenings

When entrepreneurs are first starting a new business opportunity, they often take on all the jobs required to make the company run.

That was certainly the case for brothers and Shawnee Heights graduates Garrett and Blake Wiseman as they launched Mercury Broadband. Their jobs included field service technician, tower climber, accountant, and literally everything else. Even chief broom sweeper, they joked.

“We started with an idea to provide better internet services in rural communities around the Topeka area,” said Garrett, chief executive officer and co-founder.

SOLVING A SITUATION

In 2007, a family friend in the rural Overbrook community was wishing for a way to take advantage of some of the new online gaming platforms and systems that dial-up internet couldn’t support. So the Wisemans found themselves up in the air making it happen.

“Through a long series of technological engineering and mistakes, we got our friend’s house connected to high-speed broadband, using a series of radios,” said Blake, co- founder and chief technical officer.

“Trial and error,” Garrett injected with a laugh.

“Then our friend’s neighbor was interested in what we did, and the rest became history,” proclaimed Blake.

Garrett credits the Washburn Small Business Development Center and Rick LeJuerrne for helping to write the original plan for the business and Kaw Valley Bank on the initial financing.

HUMBLING BEGINNINGS

With their roots in Topeka, Mercury Broadband’s first office was at SE 29th and California in the basement of Capital City Bank.

“We were able to deliver a good service to the community,” Garrett said.

They expanded by moving on to other rural Topeka communities like Berryton and Dover.

“People were just astounded at what you could do with it. You could watch YouTube. You could stream video. It was pretty powerful.”

Mercury Broadband remodeled a 30,000-square-foot building at 3400 SW Van Buren to house the call center for the company.

As business grew, so did their needs. They bought a building at SW 37th and Kansas and also outgrew it. And the business just keeps growing.

Fifteen years later, the privately held Mercury Broadband has eight offices in five different states, with operations in Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. They’re also currently looking at opportunities in Illinois, Garrett said. They now build with both fiber and fixed wireless networks and provide services to commercial and residential clients.

Oh, and they do their own construction. In 2021, Mercury Broadband remodeled a 30,000-square-foot building at 3400 SW Van Buren, to house the call center for the company.

“We’re very much a Topeka business and very proud of that,” said Garrett, with headquarters split between the capital city and Kansas City. “We are very focused on building out in rural communities to provide internet service in areas that don’t have access.”

Currently, Mercury Broadband employs about 270 people and foresees that number significantly growing as expansion continues.

“We’re having a tremendous amount of growth and expect to hire more than one thousand employees in the coming years,” Garrett said.

Mercury Broadband is constructing more than 13,000 miles of fiber right now, “which is just an astronomical amount,” Garrett said. The company is also building more than 2,000 fixed wireless sites.

Additionally, Mercury Broadband is in the process of constructing close to 20 service centers in its market areas where local teams for operations, construction and installation will be based.

Garrett said growth and business have been so good because there’s a humongous need for internet in rural communities.

“There are a ton of communities that don’t have access,” he said. “It’s a huge initiative at both the federal and state level to help close that gap. It’s getting the right amount of attention, and I think the right people are really focused on trying to solve the problem, but it is a problem, nevertheless. We’re fortunate to be in a position to be able to help and to add value in these communities that need access.”

Garrett said “Mercury @ Home” is the company’s product suite, and using it helps their customers not only receive quality internet but to be able to use their internet more effectively with a mobile app that ties into the router.

GAINING MOMENTUM

Mercury Broadband sets itself apart from other internet providers with its customer service and fast speeds, Garrett said, but also for its focus on being involved in the community.

“We hire local, we invest in the communities, and we participate in community events. We’re very focused on being a part of the communities that we service,” Garrett said. “You don’t really see that with some of the larger companies but that’s a big part of who we are as a company. We see ourselves as a small, community midwestern company.”

The Wisemans believe the future is bright for Mercury. There is a true need for internet service to be able to function in society, and Mercury is doing its best to fill that need.

While some companies have good and bad years, Garrett insisted every year has been exponentially better.

“It’s a high-growth story,” he said. “Every year, it’s just compounded. For the foreseeable future, we think we’ll continue to do that. The company is growing, and I think we’ve put together a winning team.”

To help with their aggressive and ambitious growth plans, Mercury Broadband recently joined with investment partner Northleaf Capital Partners to support the company’s vision of high-speed internet to underserved communities in the Midwest. Northleaf will invest up to $230 million to support Mercury, the company said.

Mercury is creating and hiring for jobs in Topeka, Garrett said.

Of continued importance to Garrett is being family-oriented, and so it makes sense that he not only works with his brother, Blake, but his sister, Angela Tenbrink, as well, who is vice president of finance.

“I think the biggest thing for me is that we’re family founded,” Garrett said. “When you think about the big carriers and internet service providers, you don’t really think about them having those types of roots. Especially as we’ve grown, that’s something we’ve tried to hold on to and values we try to preserve as a company.”