A project to bring high-speed internet to unserved and underserved areas of Kendall County continues to move ahead.

Fox Fiber, a new nonprofit entity, has officially launched the Kendall County Broadband Initiative, a community-owned network that will deliver high-speed fiber and wireless internet to approximately 15,000 homes, businesses, farms and public institutions.

The first phase of the project will pass approximately 4,700 addresses, bringing fiber connectivity to communities including Lisbon, Millbrook, Millington, Montgomery, Newark, Oswego, Plattville and Yorkville.

“This is the future of connectivity,” Kendall County board member Zach Bachmann, the chair of the Connect Kendall County Commission, had said previously in talking about the project.

“If this model works, it can be adopted by other communities to have them get this type of service. Because what this project is doing is not just doing something that’s going to make a company as much money as possible. This is meeting our community at the index where its need is at...I could not be more proud of this and excited,” Bachmann said.

The launch includes the integration of NewarkNet, Inc. into Fox Fiber and the sale of about $31 million in tax-exempt bonds alongside a $15 million grant from the Illinois Office of Broadband to pay for the project.

The project will be built with no tax burden on residents and will be sustained through network revenue.

Last September, the Kendall County Board approved Denver-based technology firm Pivot-Tech Development to be the county’s partner for building the broadband system.

“This is Kendall County’s network — built by local people, overseen by a local board, and designed to serve this community for decades,“ Pivot-Tech Development CEO Jim Cannon said in a news release.

”We are not a distant corporation entering the market. We are building infrastructure that stays here, serves here and is accountable here," he said.