Illinois Gigabit Grant Brings World-Class Connections, More Innovation to a Rural Town
Frontier Communications received a $1.5 million grant from the Illinois governor’s office to develop a gigabit broadband network for southern Illinois, said Gov. Pat Quinn (http://1.usa.gov/17frvtf). The grant is part of a partnership of Frontier North, the city of Carbondale, Southern Illinois University and Connect Southern Illinois to provide a gigabit network to the community and the university. “To remain competitive in today’s digital society, Illinois must have broadband infrastructure second to none,” said Quinn (D) on Friday. The grant was issued through the governor’s Illinois Jobs Now! capital construction program.
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The project is the fourth major initiative in the Gigabit Communities Challenge broadband infrastructure program, said Quinn’s office. To qualify, the city had to find 1,000 drops, or subscribers, to buy the service, Kevin Baity, Carbondale city manager, told us. “We need to serve 1,000 households and we looked for areas where existing infrastructure could be enhanced,” he said. “We needed individuals who could afford to pay for more bandwidth, which includes people running businesses out of their homes, the university and medical providers."
The project has the ability to make progress to get Carbondale connected, Connect SI Executive Director Kathy Lively told us. Clearwave recently completed a project in southern Illinois through NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, which used $11.3 million in state funds to install 751 miles of fiber in 23 counties connecting 232 community anchor institutions, said Quinn’s office. “When Connect SI began six years ago, a third of the region had not been touched by broadband and those who did had dial-up,” said Lively. “We have been very aggressive in trying to find ways to bring broadband to the community.”
Carbondale issued a request for information to avoid showing favoritism toward providers, Lively said. Frontier was the only company to complete the process, she said. The telco is still in the process of determining the project scope, said a company spokeswoman. The company will use a combination of feeder and distribution fiber for the project, she said.
The project will enable Southern Illinois University to become a world-class university, Rex Duncan, the university’s director-community development and outreach, told us. Since Carbondale is in a rural area, the project also gives Frontier the ability to bring experimental learning into K-12 classrooms, said Lively. (sfriedman@warren-news.com)