High-speed internet is essential for education, healthcare, business, and daily life, yet many rural communities in Washington still face limited access. Open access networks (OANs) offer a solution: a shared fiber network that multiple service providers can use, fostering competition, lowering costs, and expanding choices for consumers.
An open access network is a broadband model that separates the physical network from the service providers that operate on it. Rather than each provider building its own fiber lines, which increases costs, duplication, and complexity, multiple internet service providers (ISPs) can lease or purchase access to a shared backbone. This approach lowers infrastructure costs, reduces redundancy, and promotes a more efficient broadband marketplace. By allowing multiple providers to operate over the same network, communities gain increased competition, more choices, better pricing, higher service quality, and ongoing innovation as providers compete through superior offerings rather than network control.
Founded in 2000, NoaNet has spent more than 25 years building broadband infrastructure, now totaling over 3,800 miles of fiber across Washington, the state’s largest open access network. By operating a neutral, public-benefit broadband backbone, NoaNet eliminates the cost and inefficiency of duplicated infrastructure, a critical advantage in rural areas where low population density often makes private buildouts financially unviable.
As a nonprofit owned by Washington’s public utility districts, NoaNet reinvests its revenues into network expansion, resilience, and community benefit, ensuring broadband reaches remote and underserved areas to support education, healthcare, business, public safety, and overall quality of life. While NoaNet has long provided wholesale access to service providers, it is now selectively extending the open access model to offer residential last-mile internet service in certain markets where additional consumer choice is needed.
This residential service, offered through NoaNet Community Broadband, builds on initial launches in Chelan and Douglas counties and is focused on communities where residents may currently have limited retail options. The goal is not to replace existing providers, but to complement the open access ecosystem by expanding choice and access while preserving a competitive marketplace for other ISPs.
NoaNet Community Broadband is intentionally residential in focus and designed to operate alongside local providers and PUD partners. Enterprise and large-scale commercial services continue to be led by NoaNet’s wholesale partners, except in specific markets where NoaNet has been asked to provide direct enterprise support. This approach ensures alignment with public partners while respecting local market dynamics.
By combining its statewide open access fiber backbone with a customer-first, community-responsive service model, NoaNet Community Broadband strengthens Washington’s broadband ecosystem while giving rural residents additional options for reliable, high-quality internet service.