Construction begins on Montana's first open access fiber network

A mere six months after Yellowstone Fiber (formerly Bozeman Fiber) announced it would be building Montana’s first high-speed all-fiber internet network, and the state’s first Open Access fiber to the home (FTTH) network, construction has officially begun. Crews began laying conduit and will install underground fiber to start connecting the first homes and businesses in Bozeman and Gallatin County (MT) to high-speed internet. The project, envisioned by Greg Metzger and the Board of Yellowstone Fiber, will provide fiber access to every address in the City of Bozeman and begin to extend the network deep into Gallatin County, finally connecting unserved rural areas and ranches, long left behind by internet service providers (ISPs). In an Open Access model, Yellowstone Fiber builds and maintains the network, while multiple private-sector ISPs provide services to the end customer. In late 2020, Metzger reached out to Utah-based UTOPIA Fiber to see if Yellowstone’s concept could have legs. The two entities formed an operational partnership and in December 2021, it was announced that Yellowstone Fiber, a 501(C)(3) nonprofit, had secured $65 million in private funds to build the first phase of the network covering Bozeman City. Yellowstone Fiber will bring speeds up to 100 Gigabits per second (Gbps) for businesses and 10 Gbps for residential to all its customers.