Residents and cabin owners along the Arrowhead Trail, including those on McFarland Lake and Tom Lake, will soon have access to electric and broadband services, marking a transformative shift to the remote area of Cook County.
The expansion of services, funded by the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), aims to bridge the digital divide by investing billions nationwide to build and expand broadband networks in rural areas of the United States. The RDOF was introduced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2019 and is the single largest investment to expand and improve communications services in the U.S. Phase 1 of the RDOF includes a 10-year investment of $16.4 billion, with Phase 2 providing $4.4 billion.
Arrowhead Cooperative, the electric and internet provider in Cook County, applied for grant funding through the RDOF in 2019 and was awarded funds to expand services in the county in Nov. 2021. Since receiving the funds, Arrowhead Cooperative has begun installing electric and fiber in Cook County, including, most recently, the Arrowhead Trail. In 2023, Arrowhead Cooperative oversaw the installment of 19.3 miles of infrastructure.
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