February 2022

Governor JB Pritzker (D-IL) and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) Office of Broadband announced the six communities selected to participate in the inaugural cohort of the Accelerate Illinois Broadband Infrastructure Planning Program. Hosted in collaboration with Heartland Forward and the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, the six communities are the City of Springfield, Jackson County, Knox County, Mercer County, Whiteside County, and the Village of Elsah.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded 13 grants as part of the Broadband Infrastructure Program. These grants, totaling more than $277 million, will be used to connect more than 133,000 unserved households.

Dish Network has resolved its dispute with T-Mobile over the shut-down of T-Mobile’s 3G CDMA network. The parties have agreed that T-Mobile’s CDMA network will officially shut down on March 31—the same date that T-Mobile has been sticking to in the fight between the two carriers. The two carriers are working together to communicate to Boost customers who are still on the CDMA network and to help them obtain new handsets. In the short-term Dish expects some continued churn of Boost Mobile customers.