Nextlink Partners with Rural Electric Cooperative on Fiber and Fixed Wireless Build

Rural-focused service provider Nextlink announced plans to deploy fiber and fixed wireless broadband in 10 counties in east-central Illinois in cooperation with Eastern Illini Electric Cooperative (EIEC). An EIEC spokesperson said the cooperative is not contributing toward the cost of the network build, stating, “EIEC is in the process of implementing an advanced metering system. It requires an extensive communication network. We’ve been able to work with Nextlink on some shared sites where we both need infrastructure, including some locations owned by EIEC.” The fixed wireless service that Nextlink will deploy will support speeds of at least 100 Mbps and up to 1 Gbps in certain areas. “Expect to see internet service from Nextlink to become available over much of east central Illinois in early 2022,” said the company. Nextlink also noted that concurrently with the project, the company will roll out “extensive IoT (Internet of Things) network coverage in east-central Illinois to facilitate the use of IoT devices in the agricultural sector.” Nextlink was a big winner in the 2018 Connect America Fund (CAF II) rural broadband funding program and was one of the largest winning bidders in the subsequent Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) rural broadband funding program. The company was awarded $281 million in CAF II funding and is slated to receive $429 million in the RDOF program.