Chehalis, WA - Lewis County PUD (PUD) celebrated the PUD’s first connected broadband customers on its grant-funded, fiber-to-the-premises projects with an event at the Boistfort Fire Station on Friday, September 6, 2024.
The first connected customers are part of the PUD’s fiber-to-the-premises project in Boistfort which brings fiber optic broadband to 370 residential and commercial customers, and is built in a way that will support future expansion.
“This is a historic day for our PUD to be able to provide true high-speed internet to our rural communities,” said PUD Commissioner Michael Kelly. “I remember a little over four years ago doorbelling across the county and hearing countless times about the desperate need for high-speed internet access. It was at that time as a candidate I made this one of my top priorities when elected.”
The event also highlighted the PUD’s vegetation management efforts along with the relatively new low-income senior discount program.
The event included a display showing a fiber optic gateway attached to the side of a customer’s building and multiple computers on a single fiber connection that demonstrated the high-speed broadband service made available on this new, Gigabit symmetrical network. The PUD is utilizing an open access network, which means that the PUD will own and maintain the infrastructure, and private retail service providers will offer internet packages to residential and business end-users. The current open access marketplace includes four different providers, with monthly retail prices ranging from $49 per month to $79.99 per month for gigabit symmetrical service.
“It’s been smooth, and it’s been wonderful,” said Clifford Munroe who was the first customer connected to the PUD’s broadband service. “I can’t thank the parties enough, that have helped bring that (broadband) out here. It’s amazing, the speed is great.”
The project was funded by $4,252,000 in grants from a combination of USDA Rural Development, Washington State Broadband Office (WSBO), and Washington State Public Works Board (PWB).
In a letter submitted on behalf of the PWB leading up to the event, PWB Broadband Committee Chair Ed Stern wrote, “Due to Lewis County Public Utility District’s extraordinary efforts to extend fiber optic connections to the citizens throughout the county – rural and suburban homes now have an equal footing with their urban living neighbors – and place all on equal footing to big city residents and businesses of the Seattle/Everett/Tacoma metro corridor!”
“This is an awesome project,” said USDA Rural Development Public Information Officer Phillip M. Eggman. “The public utility district is the perfect example, the model that can bring private and public together like a zipper on a jacket and putting that jacket on that gives us that broadband coverage.”
“Thank you for all the great work you guys have done,” said Washington State Broadband Office Broadband Infrastructure Programs Manager Connie Rivera.
The PUD also has grant-funded broadband projects planned in the Vader, Elbe, Mineral, Ashford, Bunker Creek, Randle, and Packwood areas.
“What I really like about the model also, is it’s competitive,” said PUD Commissioner Ed Rothlin. “Competition is good. It provides better service and, of course, better rates.”
“I would like to thank all who contributed to these projects,” said PUD General Manager David Plotz. “From the agencies who provided grant funding, to the Broadband Action Team, to NoaNet for all their technical support, to the community for supporting these efforts by the PUD, to the PUD commissioners who continue to show their commitment to this broadband initiative inside the PUD. Our PUD team has done an excellent and efficient job on this project and I am proud of their work.”
About Lewis County Public Utility District
Lewis County PUD is a community-owned, locally governed utility providing power services and telecommunications infrastructure to approximately 35,000 customers throughout most of Lewis County and adjacent communities.
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