Staff briefed the Utilities Advisory Commission on a midyear update to Palo Alto's planned expansion of city fiber and the city's move toward offering fiber internet service. Alexandra Harris, the telecommunications program manager, said council directed staff on Dec. 19, 2022, to rebuild the backbone and pursue fiber-to-the-premises; the pilot area has roughly 1,200 homes passed, of which about 845 are serviceable. Staff said construction of fiber huts and pilot-area cable is scheduled this month if weather permits, with a target to accept pilot subscribers in March 2026.

The project is funded from the city's fiber fund reserves, accumulated over decades from the dark-fiber business, staff said. Staff described a simple initial pricing strategy offering 500 megabit and 1 gigabit plans and said promotional pricing is being finalized. Staff also said the pilot's goals include technical feasibility, operations and customer experience as well as testing promotional pricing; they estimated a pilot spend of about $5 million and noted council authorization for a larger phase 1 envelope (transcript reference to up to $20 million for phase 1 and another ~$26 million for backbone work).