Join Us in Illinois! (These folks already have.)
We’re heading to Chicago at the end of this month for our regional conference (Join us!), so it seemed like the perfect time to check in on some of the FTTH Council’s members in Illinois who are firing up their communities with fiber — each in their own way.
Adams Fiber
Just last week, the team at Adams Fiber in Quincy, Illinois readied to light up the Quincy Business Technology Center with fiber, launching the next phase of a business incubator that has boosted economic development in the area since 1985. The business center is a haven for entrepreneurs, housing 19 business tenants with more than 125 employees. Among startups that began there, a whopping 78 percent are still in business. That’s far higher than the 50 percent that typically last five years, according to the Small Business Administration.
Supporting community growth is why the team at Adams Fiber launched their fiber project in 2014. What began in one neighborhood has now stretched across 8 throughout the community, as residents visit www.followthefiber.net to sign up. The company is no stranger to exploring partnerships, like many Council members, but ultimately has built out the network itself.
Clearwave Communications
In August 2010, Harrisburg, Illinois company Clearwave received funding from the he National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA’s) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) to develop rural broadband. By August 2013, Clearwave and its partners in the Illinois Broadband Opportunity Partnership-Southern had laid more than 740 miles of fiber optic cable through 23 counties, and connected 232 community anchor institutions to the next generation network.
The company was most recently recognized for its work on a next generation e-911 system connecting counties throughout southern Illinois.
CTI Fiber
Computer Techniques, Inc.’s president and vice president grew up together in Taylorville, a town of about 11,000 people just southeast of Springfield. They started the company in 1998. Their commitment to bringing technology to their hometown reached a head in 2013, when they announced a project to build fiber to the home. These hometown heroes have worked hard to build this next generation network for the next generation of economic development, job creation and innovation.
Highland Communication Services
280 miles south of Chicago, the town of Highland established HCS in 2010 after overwhelmingly voting to support the building of a FTTH network. This move made 10,000 resident Highland Illinois’ first gigabit city.
The town works enthusiastically to take advantage of blazing fast speeds, launching a business plan competition in 2014 to attract companies to the area. The winner of the competition, 3D printing company Squarefruit Labs, received $15,000 cash, office space, super high speed internet, legal services, mentorship, and more. The catch: locate the company in Highland. And Squarefruit Labs is thriving, working to change the way people 3D print with their personal, at-home device, PERSONA.
HomeTel
Home Telephone Company (HomeTel) in St. Jacob, Illinois serves just under 1,000 customers in a 52 square-mile radius. The company has been connecting people since 1906 when its first switchboard was located in a room off the side of Gaffner’s Drug Store. A family business, HomeTel has always brought its customers the newest technology available. And that commitment hasn’t stopped as the company works to upgrade its entire service area to fiber.
Illinois Rural Electric Cooperative
Students at Bluff School District had a surprise waiting for them after summer vacation: blazing fast internet via fiber from Illinois Rural Electric Cooperative. The Co-op services 11,000 electric meters in 10 central Illinois counties and its fiber network, IllinoisNet.com was initially launched to bring fiber to the communities of Winchester and Bluffs. Sign ups for the service have exceeded expectations, as community residents clamor for faster speeds.
See you in Chicago!
There are many ways to deploy fiber and Illinois is an excellent example of this diversity based on community and regional needs. We’re looking forward to seeing these members — and others many others — in Chicago this month to explore that diversity. While each community and company has a different story, we’re glad the Council can help serve them and provide resources for what they need to advance their networks to the next level.
Sign up now for our Regional Meeting on March 30–31.
Want to be a member of the Council? Join us!
