Kitsap Public Utility District (KPUD) continues to expand its popular open access fiber network, bringing affordable next-generation broadband access to island locals long trapped on the wrong side of the digital divide.
“Kitsap PUD is accelerating its community-owned, open-access fiber build, with new distribution nodes coming online by early 2026, expanding capacity and reaching more underserved addresses,” the organization states in a recent update.
KPUD provides water, wastewater, and Internet service on Bainbridge Island and the neighboring peninsula in the Puget Sound in Washington state.
In 2016, officials long-frustrated by substandard regional broadband access decided to finally build an open access network that continues to expand, and now brings affordable gigabit fiber to locals via a half-dozen different competing broadband ISPs.
An updated KPUD case study indicates that the existing network is currently comprised of more than 900 miles of fiber, with 21 new distribution nodes coming online early 2026. That node expansion is being heavily aided by $6.6 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. According to officials, each node is capable of serving between 1,920 and 7,680 addresses.
Construction of the expansion is underway now, and is expected to be completed sometime in 2026.
“These new nodes will enhance network reliability, strengthen our open access model, and support faster, more robust broadband for Kitsap County residents and businesses,” KPUD General Manager Angela Bennink says of the project. “We’re grateful to Kitsap County for allocating ARPA funding toward this essential public infrastructure.”
The KPUD network currently delivers broadband access to 2,500 homes and 300 businesses. Residential consumers have the option of broadband access at speeds between 100 Mbps to 10 Gbps across six different ISPs, with prices that are substantially lower than many local Seattle residents pay in the heart of the city.
KPUD has also been provisionally awarded Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding for nearly 4,000 additional homes and 9,000 additional passings to be built out over the next 5 years, pending final NTIA approval.
Multiple KPUD officials sat down with ILSR’s Chris Mitchell to discuss their open access fiber network as part of Episode 557 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast.
Inline image of Kitsap PUD truck courtesy of Kitsap PUD Facebook page
