Decatur Continues to Expand Its Institutional Network

Decatur (IL) is moving forward with an Institutional Network (I-Net) expansion that will connect 11 school districts and 3 firehouses to its growing fiber-optic backbone, connecting potential commercial and industry customers along the way. The city of Decatur has been expanding its fiber network since 2014. The expansion is the result of a 5-0 city council vote in April approving a $915,000 contract with Bodine Electric to purchase and hang 144 strand fiber-optic cable. A portion of the funding for the contract will come from an $800,000 grant from the Connect Illinois grant program, an initiative aimed at expanding broadband access. The program launched in 2019 with $420-million investment in broadband infrastructure. The first round of grants totaled $50 million with a combined $9.25 million going to monopoly providers CenturyLink, MediaCom, Spectrum, and Comcast and the rest going to local providers and city and county governments. The remaining $115,000 allocated in the contract will come from the state’s portion of the American Rescue Plan fund.