Each month I try to share something I learned. This month the lesson came from a project I have been close to for years. In 2022, Holland voters approved a bond of up to $30 million, repaid through a millage, to run fiber past every address in the city. I helped make the case for it. On September 17, our Board of Public Works (BPW) celebrated the network’s completion at Holland City Fiber Fest, months ahead of schedule.
The backbone is in
BPW began laying fiber in the early 1990s to connect its own substations. The new 195-mile network ties into that 260-mile backbone, and every home in the city can now get 2 gigabits per second, as fast up as down, for $45 a month. There is no contract, no data cap, and installation is included. Before the project, only 22 percent of Holland had gigabit access. As Mayor Nathan Bocks puts it: twice the speed at half the cost.
Sign-ups are about where we expected
The planning studies assumed that a third to a half of households would take service from BPW. By February, BPW reported about 3,500 customers with nine of its fifteen fiberhoods complete. The take rate is tracking about where we planned.
Marketing is a mindset
Here is the lesson I did not fully anticipate. Nobody has to sell electricity, but broadband customers have a choice, and the incumbents compete hard. Comcast spent about $100,000 opposing the ballot measure. Learning to think like a competitor has been a culture shift for a city-owned utility. Today a billboard promotes the service, and I smile every time I drive past it.
The fiber carries more than movies
Because the network is open access, five partner internet providers use BPW fiber to serve businesses, including off-site storage and disaster recovery. A local restaurant runs its reservation system over it. Herrick District Library connects its two locations and offers patrons free Wi-Fi and public computers. Here at Whittaker Associates, we use it to serve our clients, conduct our market research, and work with our team in Michigan and Kathmandu, Nepal.
A magnet for remote workers
Holland is a resort town on Lake Michigan. People already want to live here. Now a remote worker can move here and upload a large file as fast as they download one. When the downtown network first went live, one business owner said internet speed was a major reason he moved his company to Eighth Street. Connecting Holland to the world was always a dream of mine. Now it is a reality.
What I would tell another community
- Build on what you already own. Utility fiber is often an overlooked asset.
- Let the voters decide. Community ownership builds the trust that drives sign-ups.
- Budget for marketing from day one. A utility has to learn to sell.
- Treat broadband as economic development infrastructure, just like water, power, and roads.
Early in my career, a long-distance call was priced by the minute. When the cost of moving information collapsed, people found uses no one had planned for. I expect the same here. Mayor Bocks calls the network a legacy investment, built for the Holland our grandchildren will inherit. I agree. The pipes are in the ground. Now it is up to all of us to fill them.