UTOPIA Fiber announced the completion of the $17.6 million project earlier this month. The West Haven City Council originally approved its accord with the Utah Infrastructure Agency, or UIA, and UTOPIA Fiber to build out the network in July 2022 and construction on the fiber-to-the-home build began almost a year later in June 2023.

The first West Haven homes were connected to the lit fiber network in April and the entire project — currently reaching over 6,600 residential addresses — was finished in late October. UIA issued a bond to cover the project’s costs, to be recouped through subscriber revenue.

“We partnered with UTOPIA Fiber on this community-owned network to address the critical need for internet access in our city,” West Haven Mayor Rob Vanderwood said in a release. “With residential speeds of up to 10 gigabits, a choice of multiple (internet service providers) with no contracts and increased competition among private sector providers, West Haven now enjoys the fastest speeds in the nation and more affordable pricing without compromising speed, reliability or customer service. The future is truly bright for our community.”

According to Nicole Cottle, UTOPIA Fiber’s deputy director, roughly 70,000 subscribers get their internet through UTOPIA. West Haven is the 20th city in the Beehive State to partner with UTOPIA on a fiber network, joining the likes of Layton, Clearfield, Syracuse, West Point and Morgan. There also are active business connections in about 80 cities across the state, per Cottle.

“West Haven is a really progressive city and because they have grown so much and so quickly, they recognized and were responsive to the requests both of their community and also the needs of their businesses in their community,” Cottle told the Standard-Examiner when asked about the partnership.

Cottle said network users can choose from 19 residential internet providers and more than 25 business providers. The West Haven network will provide access to speeds up to 10 gigabits per second and 100 Gbps for businesses, which UTOPIA Fiber says are currently the fastest speeds offered nationwide.

She further noted that network support, customer service and the ongoing implementation and upgrading of the city-owned network will be handled by UTOPIA Fiber.

“Because it’s open access, that competition will sustain itself and maintain the best value for our customers,” Cottle added. “We have great providers that ride our fiber and they provide great service to the community. … The other concept about UTOPIA that I think is unique is that we really were created to provide service to all. It’s really important to the communities that have selected partnership with us that everyone in our community does have the access to the potential service.”