600 Miles of 740-Mile Clearwave Internet So. Ill. Project Completed

Du Quoin Community Unit District 300, Marshall Browning Hospital and the Du Quoin Police Department could all benefit from the completion of construction of Clearwave Communication's new 740-mile fiber optic internet backbone project in the next 30-60 days, according to Clearwave chief operating officer Ray Cagle of Harrisburg.

Cagle said 600 miles of the 740-mile project have been completed and technicians are laying out individual connections to 111 schools, healthcare providers, public safety agencies, libraries and community colleges in southern Illinois as well as SIU-Carbondale.

Connections are expected to be extended as the program grows.

The entire project should be completed by August 2013.

The project began unfolding in 2010.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) awarded Delta Communications, LLC (d.b.a. Clearwave Communications) a grant to fund the building of a fiber based network throughout a 23-county region of southern Illinois. This network will provide Internet services and access to community anchor institutions in rural and economically distressed areas of southern Illinois.

The objective of the project is to bring a fiber-optic middle-mile infrastructure to southern Illinois to meet the growing demands for broadband in the region.

To request information regarding internet or point to point service, please contact Clearwave Communications at (618)294-8000. Clearwave would also like to know of any existing or planned fiber networks so they can possibly be worked into the plan.

Please contact Clearwave Communications at (618)294-8000 to find out more information on the location of the fiber path. A representative will work with the fiber network engineering team on a case by case basis to identify possible fiber connectivity points.

The project has identified 232 sites along the proposed middle-mile path which will be directly connected via fiber. There will be hundreds of access points along the network where Clearwave can splice the fiber and build to other entities in order to connect them. However, the primary focus of this project timeline is to connect the major beneficiaries of the project.