Connecting to Palo Alto Fiber’s Future

Published in

PaloAltoConnect

3 min readJul 20, 2023

In late December 2022, the City Council directed staff to begin the first phase of the fiber network deployment. Through the Palo Alto Fiber (Fiber to the Home/Premises) project, the City will provide broadband, high-speed internet services directly to Palo Alto homes or businesses. Read on for a progress update including upcoming engagement opportunities in August and late summer/early fall.

Palo Alto Fiber Moves Forward

Council adopted “Option 2” which is to build the fiber backbone and fiber to the premises in a phased approach with existing funds, $34 million from the Fiber Fund and $13 million from the Electric Fund.

Under this approach, fiber will be built out in selected areas of the City and expanded gradually to eliminate the need for debt financing. Areas in this phase are being identified with the goal of reducing overall costs, reduce construction and community disruption. Considerations include resident interest from the market research survey and deposits submitted, geographical proximity to the fiber hut, and neighborhood alignment with the electrical grid modernization pilot.

Magellan Advisors (Magellan) is assisting the City with program management, organizational change management, network operations and technical support, and utility pole electric make-ready engineering.

Get Involved

The Utilities Advisory Commission (UAC) will discuss the Palo Alto Fiber project and areas of deployment at their September 6 meeting. View the agenda here, and join the meeting to share your input virtually or in person on September 6 at 6 p.m. Written public comments may be submitted by email to UACPublicMeetings@cityofpaloalto.org. Save the date and add the meeting to your calendar here.

The UAC discussion will help inform further City Council considerations and next steps later this fall 2023. Stay tuned and sign up for the FiberLINK digital newsletter to gain updates as more details are known. Pin your support and share how you would use fiber internet services on the Palo Alto Fiber Hub.

Deposit Program is Closed

Thank you to those who participated in the Palo Alto Fiber deposit program. The deposits were one measure of many used to design the fiber build out. Deposits are no longer being accepted. Submitted deposits will be applied as a credit to your first Palo Alto Fiber bill. In total, there were 3,651 completed surveys and 743 deposits submitted.