BELVIDERE, Ill. — Illinois Governor JB Pritzker visited the city of Belvidere Thursday to take a look at some of the technology U.S. Cellular is using to get broadband access to rural communities.

The trip started at a 5G cell tower and continued to Washington Academy. Throughout the trip U.S. Cellular showed live demonstration of its advanced 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) technology. 

“Governor Pritzker has been one of the leaders in the country that makes sure that people have the internet speed they need to do their jobs.” stated  Representative Dave Vella (IL-68th). 

Vella continued to say, “without good internet access those rural communities are out of jobs and out of money. This new technology not only from U.S. Cellular but other companies too is going to push us to the next level.”

Governor JB Pritzker states, “It’s pretty amazing to me that we can provide broadband internet now, to people in rural areas in ex urban areas. With technology that’s really not complex to deploy the US Cellular technology, literally a very small box that you get to put on the side of your house” 

The governor also discussed the COVID-19 pandemic and how it was a turning point in the access of high speed internet and 5G service 

“Look, we all learned, I think during the midst of the pandemic, how important connectivity was, and again, thank goodness, we passed a broadband law and a bill a couple of years before, but it takes time to roll all this out. And we’re in the midst of it. 5g is one of the many important components that allow us to get higher speed connectivity to many people.”

Illinois has invested more than $420 million into creating broadband access and training.

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