Governor Quinn Highlights Illinois Broadband Efforts

CHICAGO – March 22, 2010. Governor Pat Quinn today reinforced his commitment to winning competitive federal funding for broadband technology projects in Illinois. The state has already won more than $60 million dollars in federal funding for broadband through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

“Broadband technology is a key to improving employment, health care, public safety and education opportunities in our state,” said Governor Quinn. “So far we have helped win more than $60 million dollars in federal aid for Illinois broadband technology projects, and through our capital program and the support of state agencies, we will keep pushing.”

In the last two months, broadband infrastructure projects in Champaign and DeKalb together won more than $30 million, and three Illinois-based, broadband-enabled health information technology programs collectively received more than $30 million in federal funding through ARRA.

The Illinois Jobs Now! capital program, a job generation and capital improvement program that will revive the state’s ailing economy by creating and retaining over 439,000 jobs over six years, designated $50 million dollars to use as local match for exceptional, federally-funded broadband projects capital program.

Governor Quinn also saluted the authors of the National Broadband Plan, released last week by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The plan recognizes Illinois' role in developing technology policies that align with the state's economic development, education and health care goals.

“The National Broadband Plan encourages us to continue building up our communities with affordable, world-class, high-speed Internet services,” said Governor Quinn. “In Illinois we are committed to working with local, state and federal leaders in the public and private sectors to secure more funding to accelerate our technology accomplishments.”

Federal broadband infrastructure funding is awarded competitively by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS). In addition to these matching commitments, the state funded grant writing assistance for Illinois-based ARRA broadband applicants.

For more information on the state’s broadband efforts, visit www.broadband.illinois.gov.