Residents may have noticed workers laying new fiber optic lines throughout Monroe County in recent months.

The Republic-Times confirmed with Clearwave Communications, an internet service provider based in Harrisburg, that this has been part of an effort to offer its services locally. 

“Our mission is to continue to provide southern Illinois with a reliable, highly efficient fiber network for businesses in rural communities,” Clearwave General Manager Frank Maydak said. “Our expansion into Monroe County has always been part of our plan. We serve communities in just about every county south of State Highway 50 and several to the north, and we will continue to grow our network well into the future.” 

Clearwave Communications has over 2,100 miles of fiber optic lines in southern Illinois, according to Maydak. 

It offers a variety of internet options for businesses. 

Maydak said those choices will come to Monroe County residents soon. 

“We anticipate our network will be complete and ready for customers by the end of the year,” he said. 

The Monroe County expansion also benefits the company’s other customers. 

“Serving Monroe County allows us to enhance our network by not only adding routes, but also allowing us the ability to provide additional redundancy throughout our existing network,” Maydak explained. “As we grow and invest into the local communities, we design our network to remove as many uncontrollable variables as possible. Redundancy allows us to keep customers up and running in the event of a fiber cut. Additionally, our routes are 100 percent buried to ensure we eliminate variables like lighting strikes, power poles getting knocked down or trees breaking fiber lines due to storms.” 

When it officially offers its service in Monroe County, Maydak also said his company will work with government and community leaders to facilitate economic development. 

To learn more about Clearwave Communications, call 294-8000 or click here.  

The existing local internet service provider options in Monroe County include Harrisonville Telephone Company (htc.net) and Charter Communications (charter.net).