Unwired Broadband previews privately funded $8 million fiber build for Escalon

Unwired Broadband representatives presented a proposal to the Escalon City Council to build a citywide fiber-optic network funded by the company at no cost to the city.

The presentation, delivered by Mark Peterson of Unwired Broadband, outlined a project the company estimates will serve about 3,347 potential customer connections in Escalon — roughly 2,700 single-family homes, 851 commercial buildings and 266 multiple-dwelling units — with an initial project cost Unwired estimated at about $8,000,000. Peterson said the company would fully fund the build for Escalon and would begin construction only after coordinating permits and a master encroachment agreement with the city.

Unwired said service tiers would start at $69.99 per month for a 250 Mbps residential plan with unlimited data and run up to multi-gigabit offerings. John Majors, Unwired’s vice president of operations, described a phased build that would divide the city into distribution areas; service in each distribution area would be activated as that phase is completed. Majors estimated the build timeline at about 10 months once permits, a master encroachment agreement and utility coordination are complete.

City staff framed the session as informational; no council direction, consensus or vote was requested or taken. Council members and residents asked technical questions about construction methods, right-of-way impacts and restoration. Unwired said the majority of work would be underground directional boring or “missile” boring to minimize disruption, that any necessary trenching would be used only as a last resort, and that the company and its contractors would perform restorations and expected to complete them within about five business days of finishing a cut. Peterson and Majors also described small fenced enclosures and neighborhood cabinets for network equipment and said enclosures would be minimal in size and appearance.

Unwired representatives noted they had previously deployed fixed wireless service in parts of the San Joaquin Valley and have completed or are building fiber projects in other nearby cities. Nathan Vosberg, a Kalinga city council member who appeared in a short recorded testimonial included in the presentation, said fiber in his city materially improved download times, streaming and latency for online gaming.

The council did not act on the proposal. City staff said they would coordinate follow-up conversations if council desired and indicated any formal next step would include drafting a master encroachment agreement and submitting design plans to the city for permit review.

Provenance: City staff introduced the presentation and turned it over to Unwired; Mark Peterson spoke starting with an introduction of Unwired’s proposal and project scope; John Majors and Sal Acevedo described deployment phases, permitting and construction details. No formal action or vote was recorded on this item.