In 2009, in hopes of stimulating the economy, the United States government passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This $787 billion stimulus package focused on three areas—spending money on infrastructure, aid to local and state governments, and tax cuts.
From this act, the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) was able to sponsor a $4 billion grant called the Broadband Technologies Opportunity Program (BTOP). The goal of BTOP was to help close the digital divide, create jobs, expand broadband infrastructure, and enhance education, public safety, and community interests.
NTIA selected 123 Comprehensive Community Infrastructure projects, including UC2B. This project became a collaboration between the University of Illinois and the cities of Urbana and Champaign. This team set out to construct a fiber-optic cable network in order to provide broadband service to community anchor institutions (see Partner page for more information) and households in the community who were underserved or unserved. For specifics about the original award, please see the BTOP page.
During the grant period (2010 – 2012), UC2B exceeded the goals it set out to achieve. It laid the foundational fiber-optic cable, connected anchor institutions, and provided families with broadband services. After the grant period, UC2B has continued to provide broadband service, in partnerships with other broadband providers.
