Illinois Commits $3 Million to Fiber Projects in Chicago and Aurora
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) revealed the first two winners of his Illinois Gigabit Communities Challenge Tuesday -- Gigabit Squared and OnLight Aurora. They will help advance fiber deployment in nine South Chicago neighborhoods and in Aurora’s public and private K-12 schools, commercial corridors, higher education and healthcare institutions. The governor promised $6 million in “prize funding” to winning projects earlier this year as part of his Illinois Jobs Now! program, according to the challenge’s website (http://xrl.us/bnuiqd). In its Tuesday announcements, Illinois is calling this money “a seed investment” for its greater broadband goals.
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The partnership “will bring new levels of connectivity to Chicago communities,” said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski in a statement. He identified the U.S.’s “challenge” as “to ensure the U.S. has a strategic bandwidth advantage” and “realizing the need for speed."
Gigabit Squared is receiving $2 million from the state of Illinois, the governor said. The Gigabit Neighborhood Gateway Program, a joint venture of Gigabit Squared and Gig.U, is expected to bring “fiber and wireless broadband capacity” to Chicago’s community anchor institutions as well as to nearby communities of Hyde Park, Kenwood and Woodlawn within the next year and eventually, to Washington Park, South Shore, Greater Grand Crossing, Grand Boulevard, Douglas and Oakland, the governor’s office said (http://xrl.us/bnuin3). The Gigabit Neighborhood Gateway Program was formed in May and pledged $200 million in capital funding to different fiber projects throughout the country, Gigabit Squared said this summer (http://xrl.us/bnuioo). It’s offering a $5 million private commitment to the Chicago project, the governor said.
The other winner is OnLight Aurora, which will receive $1 million, the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity said Tuesday in a separate announcement (http://xrl.us/bnuiy8). Aurora, Ill., is a city of about 200,000 people, and the award will help the nonprofit, year-old OnLight to connect its “state-of-the-art fiber network to more than 12,000 end users, including students, nurses, business men and women, and residents,” the department said. It’s expected to create 2,500 jobs over the next half decade, it said. Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner credited the grant in a statement with helping his city to “close the digital divide.”
"Through the Gigabit Communities Challenge, Illinois will build stronger, smarter communities with Internet connections more than 100 times faster than they are today,” Quinn said in a statement Tuesday. The Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity is responsible for reviewing applications and making the awards.
The Gigabit Squared effort promises “world-class gigabit speed fiber to over 4,825 residents, businesses, schools, and healthcare institutions and will create more than 50 new jobs” in Chicago, the governor’s office said. The University of Chicago is also donating $1 million to the effort and will strive to raise another million through the community, according to the governor. The Chicago Broadband Challenge would shift $30 million in city funds to provide gigabit speed to Chicago neighborhoods and focus on different innovation corridors and community wireless, the mayor said at the time. Tuesday’s announcement marks “a great first step” in the Chicago Broadband Challenge and its goals to create “an open, next-generation network for the entire city,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement. The city launched ChicagoNEXT Tuesday to attract tech talent, according to the mayor’s office (http://xrl.us/bnuirt).
Illinois received 41 applications for the governor’s Illinois Gigabit Communities Challenge, its website shows (http://xrl.us/bnuiss). Applicants included the Illinois Medical District Commission, CenturyLink, the city of Evanston, Frontier North, Murphysboro School District No. 186 and many others. Other award recipients will be announced in the coming weeks, the governor said. These first two winners have been allocated half of the total prize money that will be awarded. Contract terms are for up to two years, the challenge website said.