Hillsboro, Oregon’s HiLight internet service is years ahead of schedule

When Hillsboro (OR) officials first announced the city-owned high-speed internet service in 2019, they thought it would take about 10 years to roll out. Now they said half of all addresses in Hillsboro will have access to HiLight between 2024-25. The service first launched to about 800 neighbors about a year ago, but officials have updated their plan to expedite the process. HiLight officials plan to complete the rollout by 2027. HiLight offers city residents 1 gigabit per second for $55 per month. Residents who qualify for low-income assistance can purchase that for as low as $10 per month. Originally, the City of Hillsboro planned to spend between $28 million and $32 million on the rollout. They now plan to spend $17 million more than that after securing an additional $14 million from the Gain Share program and $3 million from the federal American Rescue Plan. And when it is finally complete, it’s expected all 38,000 Hillsboro households will have access to this internet.