Internet Construction Crosses Du Quoin

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Clearwave Communications' construction of a new 740-mile long internet backbone through Southern Illinois will give schools, libraries, police and fire departments and hospitals the internet connectivity they need to download the future. A construction crew has been working in Du Quoin to install the orange conduit that in the coming weeks will carry the new fiber optic line through Du Quoin.

Du Quoin and Pinckneyville area residents have been seeing boulevard construction work that feature large spools of conduit and fiber optic cable. In business since 1996, Clearwave Communications is a licensed Competitive Local Exchange Carrier and is headquartered in Harrisburg. In 2010, Clearwave applied for and was awarded a $31.5 million grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act along with $11 million in state broadband development capital funds to build a 740 mile long fiber optic network throughout southern Illinois. In the next few months that project will be coming through Du Quoin.

The network currently under construction will provide much needed broadband backbone infrastructure through 23 counties in Southern Illinois, and the project will directly connect and provide much improved broadband service to 232 community anchor institutions - universities, community colleges, k-12 schools, libraries, health care providers and public safety entities. The new network will also provide affordable middle mile, or wholesale, access for retail internet providers to use to service their customers. The end result will mean greater access to the internet for residents, entrepreneurs, businesses, health care providers, and other key sectors of a community which will improve the overall quality of life in the region as well as provide opportunities for economic development.