After more than a decade of grassroots study, public debate, and pushback from legacy telecom incumbents, the City of Holland, Michigan is officially lighting up its open access citywide fiber network.

Operated by the municipal electric utility, the Holland Board of Public Works’ (HBPW) publicly owned, open-access network — dubbed Holland City Fiber — has transitioned from network construction to lighting up its first subscribers.

The milestone marks a major victory for local digital self-reliance in western Michigan, delivering symmetrical multi-gigabit speeds at prices commercial monopolies like Comcast have historically refused to match.

An Investment For ‘Future History Books’

Home to about 34,000 residents, Holland’s path to municipal fiber was more than a decade in the making.

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HBPW had maintained a small institutional and business fiber loop dating back to 1992. But like countless mid-sized cities across the Midwest, local residents and small businesses outside the immediate downtown core were left at the mercy of a cable-and-phone duopoly that chronically underinvested in network upgrades while hiking rates via hidden junk fees.

Formal exploration of a citywide build began around 2016. In 2021, the city tapped engineering consultancy CTC Technology & Energy to conduct a feasibility study and business plan. That study laid bare what locals already knew: leaving the city’s connectivity to the private market would ensure decades of stagnant speeds, erratic customer service, and escalating costs.