Rural areas of Illinois unable to access broadband internet will soon be able to go online.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday announced $50 million in state grants for 28 projects reaching every region of the state. The money will be matched by $65 million in non-state funding with plans to expand access for more than 26,000 homes, businesses and community institutions across Illinois.
The governor said life without access to the internet became extremely difficult for some once the pandemic struck.
“When a small business that had to close its doors because they had no online shopping, what it means when a child has no ability to access homework assignments online,” he said. “This work has never been more urgent than it is right now.”
With the first round of grants, 18 internet service providers, rural cooperatives, nonprofits and local governments were grants a total of $50 million to invest in broadband capacity across the state.
Mike McClain, CEO of Geneseo Communications, said this will be a game-changer for Illinois farmers.
“High-speed internet access is just as important to a farmer in Henry County as it is to a corporation in a downtown Chicago high-rise,” McClain said. “Due to the lack of density in most counties in Illinois, it is cost-prohibitive to build direct fiber internet access to homes or farms.”
Johnny Kampis, with the Taxpayer Protection Alliance, said he would have preferred a different method of funding.
“Given how the pandemic has proven the need for fast, reliable broadband and how hard businesses have been hit by the state-at-home orders, it’s understandable why Gov. Pritzker wants to expand the state’s broadband funding programs,” Kampis said. “We prefer loans over grants since loans give recipients skin in the game because they must eventually pay back the money, which tends to increase accountability and certainly better protects taxpayers.”
