Frontier plans $40 million investment in Illinois broadband

Frontier Communications, which serves mainly rural areas and smaller communities, plans to spend more than $40 million to expand broadband service in Illinois over the next 12 months. "What we are trying to do is give people the flexibility to live and work anywhere they want and have the same telecommunication infrastructure as if they worked in Chicago," said Maggie Wilderotter, chairman and CEO of Frontier. "It's important for us to provide that capability in these small towns."

In July, Frontier, which is based in Connecticut, took over 4.8 million landlines in Illinois and 13 other states that were previously operated by Verizon. Springfield-area communities now served by Frontier include Chatham, Jacksonville, Lincoln, Waverly, Virden, Auburn, Loami, Girard, Pawnee, Sherman, Pleasant Plains, New Berlin, Elkhart, Williamsville, Divernon and Illiopolis. "One of the commitments we have made to the state of Illinois is that we want to get a minimum of 80 percent reach for broadband over the next two years," Wilderotter. "And our goal would be to get somewhere between 85 to 90 percent in a three-year window."