Buildout of high-speed fiber internet in rural areas of northwestern Illinois has received a boost with the award of $69.9 million in grant funds to JCE Co-op from the state’s Connect Illinois program.

The co-op will use the funds to deploy high-speed fiber internet to areas in Whiteside, Carroll and Jo Daviess counties, enabling connection of more than 5,100 households, farms and businesses.

“Access to high-speed internet service is necessary for our current and future rural members and businesses to excel and remain competitive,” JCE Co-op President and CEO Mike Casper said in announcing the grant award. “High-speed internet service is necessary for the future success of our region.

“It allows our existing businesses to grow and remain competitive, our children to excel and northwest Illinois to attract workers and new businesses,” he said. “It connects us to telemedicine, educational and remote work opportunities, and family and friends around the world.”

The Connect Illinois grant funds and local match will be used to build 1,265 miles of fiber passing 5,160 locations. Making up a portion of the local match is the commitment of $3 million from Whiteside County. In 2023, the Whiteside County Board unanimously voted to partner with JCE Co-op and allocated $3 million of matching funds to help maximize grant opportunities to underserved and unserved rural residents in that area. That support comes from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

“This award of Connect Illinois grant funds for the deployment of high-speed fiber internet to rural unserved and underserved areas of Whiteside County and the Northwest Illinois region is an important milestone for our collective efforts to energize the local economy, improve the region’s level of competitiveness, and improve the quality of life of our residents,” said Gary Camarano, Whiteside County’s economic development director.

“From the county’s standpoint, we looked at this opportunity as a ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’ to fund and build broadband fiber infrastructure for the entire county and region that has eluded us thus far,” he added. “We worked long and hard to identify the problem, collect public comment, gather stakeholder support, select reliable partners, and allocate local matching funds – our ‘skin in the game’ – for the grant application and it paid off.”

“This is an important milestone for us,” Camarano said. “Now it is up to us, the northwest Illinois region and our trusted partners to complete the broadband fiber deployment and to make the best use of high-speed fiber internet for business competitiveness, remote work, long-distance education and telehealth, precision agriculture, and improved quality of life.”

Another $50,000 was committed by Jo Daviess County to help provide fiber optic internet access. That support comes from local economic development funds.

“Jo Daviess County is extremely pleased that JCE Co-op has been awarded $69.9 million in grant funding to deploy high-speed fiber internet in areas of Jo Daviess County,” said LaDon Trost, Jo Daviess County Board chair. “High-speed fiber is a key component in the economic development of Jo Daviess County going forward in the 21st century and brings connectivity to rural households as well as continuing to enhance the amenities available to tourists while they stay in our scenic and historic county.”

In its entirety, this project will fill in many of the remaining gaps of underserved and unserved areas throughout Jo Daviess and Carroll counties and the northern half of Whiteside County. Combined with prior grants and other regional projects, all three counties will realize significant coverage towards countywide buildouts, according to Jesse Shekleton, JCE Co-op’s director of broadband operations.

“The funds provided by the Connect Illinois program of nearly $70 million will foster high speed fiber internet connectivity in rural Carroll and surrounding counties,” said Joseph Payette, Carroll County board chair. “The initiative taken by JCE Co-op in obtaining the funding will accelerate the rural economic development on par with the rest of the state.  Carroll County is appreciative of the efforts to advance the high-speed solution in rural areas.”

The buildout of fiber across the region is the biggest opportunity for growth of the co-op in northwest Illinois since 1939, said Kyle Buros, JCE Co-op senior vice president and chief operating officer. Continuing construction of the co-op’s fiber network and the connection of new members is an undertaking larger than the co-op’s previous acquisition of former Alliant Energy electric and natural gas services and the merger with Farmers Mutual Electric Company combined.

Referencing the co-op’s beginnings as an electric cooperative bringing power to rural areas, Buros noted “what took 85 years, we’ll repeat with fiber in the next two to three years.”

“In the late 1930s, a majority of the rural homes and farms JCE Co-op now serves did not have access to the same electric service as those in nearby towns served by for-profit utilities,” said Shekleton. “Just as it closed the rural ‘electric divide’ of that era, JCE Co-op remains committed to its mission as it works to close today’s ‘digital divide’ challenge.”

JCE Co-op currently maintains approximately 2,400 miles of electric distribution line, more than 300 miles of natural gas pipeline, and over 1,000 miles of fiber backbone. During the next three years, the co-op expects to construct another 1,500 miles of fiber backbone that will provide access to over 10,000 homes and businesses.

“The near-term goal is to complete as much rural buildout as possible within the next few years pursuant to the grant criteria,” said Shekleton. “However, the long-term goal isn’t about fiber. It’s about the rural membership and how they utilize this world-class service to improve their everyday lives and drive rural development well into the future.”

The Connect Illinois grant is the fifth and largest grant the co-op has received for fiber broadband projects. Casper noted that the JCE Co-op team has been proactive and successful in obtaining grants to build out area that otherwise would be cost prohibitive.

 “What makes our area uniquely scenic can make construction and maintenance of infrastructure extremely difficult and costly,” he said.

“The collective efforts of the cooperative and the rural residents of northwest Illinois to be awarded with these much-needed grants further demonstrates the capability of a grassroots effort seeking to improve quality of life and promote rural prosperity,” Shekleton said.

The co-op received many letters of support and commitments from local businesses, communities, counties, legislators, and individual member households underscoring the need for reliable, high-speed rural broadband, Shekleton noted. Some of the areas expected to realize the biggest benefits of rural broadband are telemedicine, education, business investment and general economic development, farm income, median household income, civic engagement, and property values.