As you probably know, Futiva was born as a subsidiary of Hamilton County Telephone Co-op. In 2015, Futiva has been working diligently to serve the underserved in our region of Southern Illinois with high speed internet service. HCTC’s mission five years ago was to expand our network, through subsidiary Futiva, into five neighboring counties of Franklin, Jefferson, Saline, White, and Williamson. Although many that live within the main towns in these counties have options, many of those living outside city limits or on the border of the towns do not have options when it comes to high speed internet. Today we are very excited and humbled to announce that with the USDA’s grant and loan program, we will be able to serve just under 8,000 locations in portions of the rural areas of Franklin, Saline, White, and Williamson counties in the coming years. Some of these areas include Lake Benton area, Orient, Whiteash, Spillertown, Pittsburg, Paulton, Crab Orchard, Harco, Ledford, Pankeyville, Muddy, Wasson, Raleigh, Brownsville, Colony West, as well as many other rural unnamed areas. These areas were all determined and qualified as underserved, meaning that at least 90% of the locations in these areas do not have access to 10/1 internet service. This multi-year project will allow us to serve our region with services that they might not otherwise ever have access to. Once this project is completed, it will give us close proximity to many other underserved areas within these five counties. We look forward to bringing fast and affordable high speed internet to this serving area and growing our network for the forseeable future.
For more information on this award, please visit: USDA invests $46.4 million toward broadband in Southern Illinois.