In May of 2020, we started Ziply Fiber with a simple idea: to simplify and elevate the connected lives of our communities, neighbors and friends every single day.

To do that, we planned to build the most advanced fiber-optic network anywhere and combine it with a refreshingly great customer experience, because we believe that everyone deserves super-reliable, high-speed fiber internet for modern life no matter where they live.

Some people thought we were being, shall we say, ambitious. We purchased the Northwest assets of a company that was primarily offering phone and DSL services throughout the region and had just declared bankruptcy. But where others saw insurmountable challenges, we saw untold opportunities.

Today, just 3 years later:

Candidly, when you add the complexity of a pandemic to the already daunting task of a company turnaround, what this team has accomplished in three short years is inspiring and positions us well to continue to grow further and faster.

Growing our fiber footprint

Build and install was what we did. In leaps and bounds. Fast and furious. By the truckload. Whatever metaphor you want to use, fiber expansion has been a key focus area since day one.

Less than two weeks after launching the company, we announced our first 14 fiber build markets, including builds in all four of our states. Four months later, we launched our first new fiber market in Snohomish, Washington, and then we lit up the small, rural towns of Orofino and Weippe, Idaho, in December of 2020.

Within a year of starting the company, we’d announced 70 new builds, and earlier this year, we achieved two more major milestones. Yakima, Washington, became our 100th new fiber market and our very first edge-out market – our first expansion outside the territory we originally purchased.

We’ve also grown through acquisitions when the circumstances have been right. Our goal has always been to find a way to bring fiber to as many people as possible as quickly as possible.

Most of the time, that’s been by building, upgrading or partnering. Sometimes, it’s meant acquiring companies where fiber is already available.

In the past year we’ve welcomed new employees from four different internet providers into the Ziply Fiber family, including EONI/Eastern Oregon Net, Inc., OTC Connections, iFIBER Communications and Ptera, Inc. Each of these represent an opportunity to build upon the fiber already available in these markets and expand the availability to more residents and businesses.

Building civic partnerships

Successful civic partnerships often play a critical role in our ability to deliver fiber to areas that have been underserved. Access to fast, reliable broadband is one of the single biggest decisions any city can make when it comes to positively impacting economic development today. Because we own and operate state-of-the-art middle-mile infrastructure, cities, towns, ports and other government entities looking to build fiber can forego these construction costs by partnering with us. By pooling resources and working together, we’ve built fiber farther and faster than either we or the cities could have done independently.

In the past 3 years, we’ve shown this more efficient, more economical model of fiber development has worked and/or is working in the following Northwest cities and towns:

 

  • Kellogg, Idaho
  • Loomis, Washington 
  •  Wardner, Idaho
  •  Tonasket, Washington
  •  Weippe, Idaho
  •  Snohomish County, Washington 
  •  Orofino, Idaho
  •  Concrete, Washington
  •  Potlatch, Idaho
  •  Hamilton, Washington
  •  Blanchard, Idaho
  •  Marblemount, Washington
  •  Skykomish, Washington
  •  Rosalia, Washington
  •  Duvall, Washington
  •  Tekoa, Washington
  •  Brewster, Washington
  •  Garfield, Washington
  •  Curlew, Washington
  •  Oakesdale, Washington
  •  Danville, Washington
  •  Palouse, Washington

 

Becoming the fastest provider in the Northwest

We set out to create the fastest, most reliable network, and that’s exactly what we’ve done. We started rolling out Gig speed to every fiber market the moment we turned up their service, but we knew we weren’t going to stop there, because we believe that scalable, reliable high-speed fiber internet is essential for growth and innovation.

That’s why we manage our network to ensure there’s always enough bandwidth and capacity to meet the needs of all our customers, whether they need it today or will need it tomorrow. In 2022, Ziply Fiber became one of the first ISPs to introduce symmetrical 2 and 5 Gig residential speed tiers.

In April 2023, we rolled out 10 Gig residential service delivered on our 100 Gig core fiber network across our entire four-state footprint, definitively making Ziply Fiber the fastest ISP in the Northwest and one of the fastest in the nation.

Giving back and moving forward

From the beginning, Ziply Fiber has been committed to bringing fiber to historically underserved communities. But fiber isn’t the only thing we connect communities with. From sponsoring youth sports teams to participating in a massive Oregon park clean-up, or partnering with agencies across our region in our first-ever holiday toy drive in 2022 – in which packed nearly a dozen vans full of toys for kids in need – we are serious about improving the connected lives as well as the real lives of our neighbors.

As the world gets bigger and more interconnected, our hyper-local attention has garnered recognition in the form of awards and accolades. CNET has named Ziply Fiber as having the fastest rural internet speeds in 2021, 2022 and 2023, and in April of 2023 they wrote that “Ziply Fiber has just about all you could ask for in a home internet provider.” We were proud to take home a ChannelVision Visionary Spotlight Award in the rural and underserved category in 2022 and an Oregon Connections Award for excellence in telecommunications projects and regional/local strategies in 2021. Also in 2021, we were a finalist in FierceTelecom’s Fierce Innovation Awards for closing the digital divide.

With all this accomplished some might rest on their laurels. The Ziply Fiber team believes we still have a lot of opportunity. I applaud our team members and thank them for their many accomplishments up to this point in our journey. I look forward to us continuing to grow Ziply Fiber as an industry leader and innovator, elevating the connected lives of our communities, friends and neighbors every day for years to come with the best network and a refreshingly great customer experience.

Here’s to another three great years and more!