The Port of Whitman County in Washington state has received a new $2.9 million grant it says will help dramatically expand affordable fiber access to the heavily rural county of 48,000. The Port of Whitman’s broadband expansions have traditionally been open access, which allow multiple competitors to compete over shared, community owned infrastructure, driving down costs.
The latest funding, from the Washington State Department of Commerce’s Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB) will support the construction of dark fiber to approximately 109 additional unserved and underserved locations in Whitman County.
According to the county announcement the project, supported by $622,441 in local matching funds, will construct last-mile fiber infrastructure along Sunshine Road east of Pullman, along Kitzmiller Road north of Pullman, and west of Tekoa. The build outside of Tekoa will bring fiber to the Port of Whitman County’s Tekoa industrial site, which the Port acquired in 2023.
“The Port is excited to partner with CERB on this broadband project,” said Kara Riebold, Port of Whitman County Executive Director.
“This continues our efforts to bridge the digital divide in rural Whitman County. We know that reliable broadband is no longer a luxury but a necessity for economic growth and are grateful for CERB’s continued investment in broadband across Washington State.”
In Washington State, several Public Utility Districts – including the Port Of Whitman County, the Port Of Coupeville, and the Port of Skagit in Skagit County – have leveraged millions in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grants to deploy community-owned open access fiber, choosing Ziply as their operational partner.
Back in 2023, The Port of Whitman saw a separate $1.1 million grant infusion that helped the county expand a five city (Palouse, Garfield, Oakesdale, Tekoa and Rosalia) fiber expansion project to 104 unserved homes.
Some of those deployments have faced new questions in the wake of Ziply’s acquisition by Bell Canada, a notorious Canadian telecom monopoly historically known for being hostile to regional broadband competition and community owned and operated telecom operations in Canada, but is looking to make new investment inroads in the United States.
Ziply has claimed that new ownership by a traditionally anti-competitive Canadian incumbent will aid the provider’s mission to improve U.S. community connectivity, but many incumbent monopolies have historically been hostile toward competition-generation open access fiber models.
The Port Of Whitman’s latest investment, funded by this new $2.9 million grant, is poised to begin construction this summer, with completion expected by the end of 2025.
