The McDonough Telephone Cooperative, or MTC Communications, has been awarded an $18 million grant through the ReConnect Program to further expand their high-speed fiber internet services in Hancock, Henderson, McDonough, and Warren Counties. As the demand for broadband services in rural areas continues to increase, MTC Communications CEO and President Jay Griswold says they will continue to seek grants to be able to expand services further to those underserved and unserved areas in Western Illinois:
“Both the State of Illinois and the Federal Government have recognized that there is a huge demand for broadband in the rural areas. There are a lot of unserved and underserved areas. We are going to continue to look at all these grant programs and do what we can to try and bring as many dollars as we can to Western Illinois and try and fill in the gaps out in those rural areas. It is going to take some time. People are going to have to a little bit patient, but we are working hard. We are going after that money to bring it here to this area. It is important that we get all of these gaps filled in so everybody has reliable, affordable broadband services.”
The $18 million grant, including an additional investment of $6 million from MTC, will connect 1,583 people, 274 farms, and 41 businesses to the high-speed fiber network service.
