We’re making progress toward lighting up fiber in Downtown Holland. Last night, the Holland BPW Board of Directors voted to approve a contract with Vantage Point for engineering and construction management to bring fiber to all of downtown.

What We Know

Vantage Point will do all the work to figure out exactly where fiber should go to each building, use those detailed plans to solicit bids for doing the actual construction, and manage the construction.

This is a great step forward in getting great fiber internet service in Holland.

Vantage Point provided an example schedule. We’re already behind their starting point, but ideally we could be getting construction bids in early 2017 and building in late winter or early spring.

What We Don’t Know

The biggest unanswered question is: “What will internet service cost?” BPW is actively working on a business plan for this purpose.

We also don’t know how much construction will cost. This contract involves getting bids based on detailed engineering work, so those bids will have the total cost. At that point, BPW and the City will have to decide how to pay for construction. Ideally, they can amortize the construction cost through service bills, but we don’t know for sure yet.

A Great Step Forward

This is a great step forward toward getting broadband in Holland. We’re farther away from fiber to the home than I’d like, but we’re getting closer all the time.