Connect Illinois: Rebuild Illinois included $400 million for a statewide broadband deployment grant program, Connect Illinois, housed in the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The program aspires to achieve broadband equity and broadband innovation.

Round 1 Projects Map

Round 2 Projects Map

Rounds 1 and 2 Project Descriptions

Cook County – $1,876,581 grant | $4,227,315 match
Location: Cook County Southland
Through this Urban Broadband Middle Mile Project, Cook County seeks to expand the existing Chicago Southland Fiber Network (CSFN) footprint throughout the Chicago Southland area. This fiber implementation will extend the existing CSFN high speed fiber-optic footprint through additional underserved communities with focus on fiber paths that will provide distribution and host last mile service platforms addressing those communities with the greatest need, municipalities with no fiber assets to support economic opportunities and stimulus, and key regional education campus facilities with limited connectivity to on-line and Internet resources

East Moline SD37 – $1,706,494 grant | $2,085,715 match
Location: Rock Island and Henry counties
This Broadband Innovation project will install Q-Link Community Wi-Fi and provide free wireless internet access to the 5,500 students and families in the high-need United Township, East Moline, Silvis, and Colona school districts. This project will install a network of 985 wireless Wi-Fi access points around the communities these school districts serve, giving students and families free internet in their home. An unused underground fiber optic network that encircles the Quad Cities will be leveraged to extend middle mile connectivity to the new last mile equipment and wireless access points included in the deployment. Student success as the primary objective of the project, but families and businesses also benefit. Reliable, high-speed internet will allow greater communication linkages, job searches, employment interviews, remote work, and telehealth.

Grafton Technologies – $1,483,007 grant | $2,427,223 match
Location: Jersey County
As a Broadband Access project, this middle mile and last mile deployment will serve a total of 584 premises, specifically 460 unserved households and 124 unserved businesses, farms, and community anchor institutions, located in parts of Jersey County. In a funding partnership with the State of Illinois, Grafton Technologies Inc. will build its network to provide broadband speeds capable of 1Gb per second download and 1Gb per second upload in the unserved area. Reliable, high-speed broadband is crucial for attracting long term investment and creating jobs in this area. Furthermore, better broadband will benefit farmers in the proposed communities in Jersey County by allowing them to employ more precision agricultural tools and become more efficient and competitive. This fiber-to-the-premises network will provide advanced, high-speed broadband services to households, businesses and farms in the proposed portions of Jersey County improves access to critical school e-learning applications while also making agricultural operations more efficient and farming operations. The broadband network will improve access to rural health care resources and will stimulate a more robust local area economy.

Illinois Electric Cooperative – $3,443,670 grant | $3,443,670 match
Location: Calhoun County
As a Broadband Access project, this last mile deployment will serve 746 unserved households and 95 unserved businesses, farms, and community anchor institutions in Hardin, Kampsville, Brussels, Winneberger, and Batchtown in Calhoun County. In a funding partnership with the State of Illinois, Illinois Electric Cooperative will improve unserved/underserved areas to 1 Gigabyte per second download and 1 Gigabyte per second upload. Building a fiber-to-the-premise network that provides advanced, high-speed broadband services to households, businesses and farms in the grant area improves access to critical school e- learning applications while also making agricultural operations more efficient and enhancing crop production through enabled precision agriculture tools. The broadband network will improve access to rural health care resources and stimulate a more robust local economy. Reliable broadband will also allow Calhoun residents with the ability to telecommute to their jobs in the St. Louis metropolitan area.

Mediacom – $249,424 grant | $249,424 match
Location: Edgewood
As a Broadband Access project, this last-mile deployment will serve 234 unserved households, 11 businesses and three community anchor institutions in Edgewood. Mediacom will deploy broadband capable of supporting download and upload speeds of 1 Gbps or greater to residential and business customers. Mediacom will help drive economic development in the project area by deploying a wide range of broadband offerings. With a reliable and fast connection from Mediacom, residents within the project area will be able to work from home, engage in e-commerce, study online, etc. To meet the high-capacity requirements of any large business customers in the project area, Mediacom will have the ability to extend fiber to the node site directly to the business customer’s premise with upload/download speeds selected by the customer.

Mediacom – $210,831 grant | $210,831 match
Location: Franklin
As a Broadband Access project, this last-mile deployment will serve 224 unserved households, 13 businesses and three community anchor institutions in Franklin. Mediacom will deploy broadband capable of supporting download and upload speeds of 1 Gbps or greater to residential and business customers. Mediacom will help drive economic development in the project area by deploying a wide range of broadband offerings. With a reliable and fast connection from Mediacom, residents within the project area will be able to work from home, engage in e-commerce, study online, etc. To meet the high-capacity requirements of any large business customers in the project area, Mediacom will have the ability to extend fiber to the node site directly to the business customer’s premise with upload/download speeds selected by the customer.

Mediacom – $117, 054 grant | $117,504 match
Location: Dewey
As a Broadband Access project, this last-mile deployment will serve 56 unserved households, three businesses and two community anchor institutions in Dewey. Mediacom will deploy broadband capable of supporting download and upload speeds of 1 Gbps or greater to residential and business customers. Mediacom will help drive economic development in the project area by deploying a wide range of broadband offerings. With a reliable and fast connection from Mediacom, residents within the project area will be able to work from home, engage in e-commerce, study online, etc. To meet the high-capacity requirements of any large business customers in the project area, Mediacom will have the ability to extend fiber to the node site directly to the business customer’s premise with upload/download speeds selected by the customer.

Mediacom – $52,434 grant | $52,434 match
Location: Valley View Estates
As a Broadband Access project, this last-mile deployment will serve 32 unserved households in Valley View Estates. Mediacom will deploy broadband capable of supporting download and upload speeds of 1 Gbps or greater to residential and business customers. Mediacom will help drive economic development in the project area by deploying a wide range of broadband offerings. With a reliable and fast connection from Mediacom, residents within the project area will be able to work from home, engage in e-commerce, study online, etc. To meet the high-capacity requirements of any large business customers in the project area, Mediacom will have the ability to extend fiber to the node site directly to the business customer’s premise with upload/download speeds selected by the customer.

Mediacom – $45,905 grant | $45,905 match
Location: Wolf Creek
As a Broadband Access project, this last-mile deployment will serve 30 unserved households in Wolf Creek. Mediacom will deploy broadband capable of supporting download and upload speeds of 1 Gbps or greater to residential and business customers. Mediacom will help drive economic development in the project area by deploying a wide range of broadband offerings. With a reliable and fast connection from Mediacom, residents within the project area will be able to work from home, engage in e-commerce, study online, etc. To meet the high-capacity requirements of any large business customers in the project area, Mediacom will have the ability to extend fiber to the node site directly to the business customer’s premise with upload/download speeds selected by the customer.

ProTek Communications, LLC – $2,409,025 grant | $1,828,732 match
Location: Williamson County
This Broadband Access project will construct new fiber-optic facilities throughout Williamson County to serve 839 unserved households, 182 underserved households, 16 unserved businesses, three community institutions, and two underserved businesses. The gigabit capable network will focus on fiber-to-the- home (FTTH) services offering affordable, reliable broadband services to Fergestown, rural areas immediately South of Marion and portions of the Lake of Egypt. This project will promote economic development by offering affordable fiber-optic broadband service to all businesses and residences within the grant funded area. The Williamson County Broadband Initiative project will construct future-proof facilities that will empower the area with reliable broadband during this period of unprecedented demand for broadband as well as years to come.

Shawnee Communications – $3,525,068 grant | $8,225,157 match
Location: Williamson and Johnson counties
Through this Broadband Access project, Shawnee will partner with the State of Illinois on its Goreville/Lake of Egypt Fiber Project to build a 1 gigabit capable network to provide last mile fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) services to the southern Illinois communities of Goreville, Tunnel Hill, and Southern Townships in Williamson and Johnson Counties. The funded service area includes the communities of Goreville, Eagle Point Bay, and Pulleys Mill located in southern Illinois. Shawnee will build to a future-proof fiber-to-the- premise network capable of 1 Gigabit synchronous transmission speed designed to serve approximately 881 unserved households, 104 unserved businesses, 642 underserved households and 8 underserved businesses in Williamson and Johnson Counties. This future-proof fiber network design supports higher transmission speeds as broadband technologies advance, ensuring the communities in the project area have ample broadband access for years to come.

Shawnee Communications – $1,183,982 grant | $2,298,318 match
Location: Saline County
Through this Broadband Access project, Shawnee will partner with the State of Illinois on its Mitchellsville/Rudement Fiber Project to build a 1 gigabit capable network to provide last mile fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) services to the southern Illinois communities of Mitchellsville and Rudement in Saline County. Shawnee will build to a futureproof fiberto-the-premise network capable of 1 Gigabit synchronous transmission speed designed to serve approximately 253 unserved households, 63 unserved businesses, 74 underserved households and 5 underserved businesses in Saline County. This future-proof fiber network design supports higher transmission speeds as broadband technologies advance, ensuring the communities in the project area have ample broadband access for years to come.

Strada Communications, LLC – $5,000,000 grant | $5,000,000 match
Location: Rock Island and Whiteside counties
This Broadband Access middle and last mile will serve approximately 661 unserved locations in Rock Island and Whiteside Counties in northwest Illinois. Phase 1 of the Port Byron and Rapids City Rural Fiber Expansion fiber-to-the- premises (FTTP) project will provide broadband data speeds at a variety of advertised data rates, with the capability of attaining speeds of 1 Gbps or more to every location. The demand is present today for advanced technologies and high-speed broadband. This project will provide home-based business options, stimulate economic growth, and spark innovation and investment. Education, health care, agriculture, energy efficiency, and public safety will improve with high-speed Internet access.

Village of Palatine – $101,387 grant | $113,434 match
Location: Cook County
This Middle Mile Broadband Equity project will connect its private fiber network to the Community Resource Center (CRC/POC), located in Palatine's highest density section of low-income residents. While Palatine is approximately 13 square miles, this low-income area is approximately 1.3 square miles and is home to approximately 15,000 residents, representing about 21% of Palatine's total population. There are approximately 55,000 client interactions per year through CRC partner institutions and the success of this project will bring much needed access to further close the digital divide in Illinois.

Wabash Telephone – $1,591,098 grant | $1,591,098 match
Location: Clay County
As a Broadband Access project, this middle mile and last mile deployment will serve 659 unserved households, businesses, farms, and community anchor institutions in parts of Clay County with 24 miles of fiber cable. In a funding partnership with the State of Illinois, the Wabash Telephone will improve unserved areas to 1 Gigabits per second download and 1 Gigabits per second upload. Building a fiber-to- the-premises network that provides advanced, high-speed broadband services to households, businesses and farms in the grant area improves access to critical school e-learning applications while also providing residents the opportunity to work from home. The broadband network will improve access to rural health care resources and will stimulate a more robust local economy.

WKT Cooperative -- $4,728,330 | $5,779,070 match
Location: Union and Pulaski counties
This Broadband Access project will target rural subscribers located in Pulaski and Union counties. These areas lack access to sufficient broadband service. The project will build an Active Ethernet Fiber-to-the- Home project. This will provide speed up to 1Gigabit per second in a symmetrical service. The high-speed broadband service developed by this project will improve economic growth and sustainability in the project area.

Xfinity (Comcast) -- $630,903 grant | $630,904 match
Location: Vermilion County
As a Broadband Access project, this last mile deployment will extend service to 270 underserved homes in unincorporated Vermilion County. This project will enable Comcast to improve underserved levels up to 1 gigabit per second down and 35 megabits up. The proposed project area will have access to some of the fastest and most reliable broadband speeds available nationwide. Providing broadband service to this underserved area of Vermilion County will benefit the entire area. Having access to broadband will enable residents to bridge the local skills gap, expand their career pathway, and improve their overall quality of life. Residents will be better able to engage in online sales and marketing, banking, telemedicine, improve and increase educational opportunities for students (including the ability to complete learning in a virtual environment), provide for the use of smart devices in the home; increasing efficiencies for lighting and heating, and encourage the use of technology by the older population.

Xfinity (Comcast) -- $595,300 grant | $595,301 match
Location: Whiteside County
As a Broadband Access project, this last mile deployment will extend service to 179 underserved homes in unincorporated Whiteside County. This project will enable Comcast to improve underserved levels up to 1 gigabit per second down and 35 megabits up. The proposed project area will have access to some of the fastest and most reliable broadband speeds available nationwide. Providing broadband service to this underserved area of Whiteside County will benefit the entire area. Having access to broadband will enable residents to bridge the local skills gap, expand their career pathway, and improve their overall quality of life. Residents will be better able to engage in online sales and marketing, banking, telemedicine, improve and increase educational opportunities for students (including the ability to complete learning in a virtual environment), provide for the use of smart devices in the home; increasing efficiencies for lighting and heating, and encourage the use of technology by the older population.

Broadband Breakthrough

Connected Communities