Ziply Fiber goes live with fiber gig-speed network in Coeur d’Alene area

Ziply Fiber announced Wednesday that it went live to 5,000 households and businesses in the Coeur d’Alene and Hayden Lake area with its gig-speed, fiber-internet network.

Along with the access benchmark on Wednesday, thousands more residential and business addresses within Ziply’s initial build area will have access by the end of April, according to a company news release.

“Ziply Fiber is proud to be here in the Coeur d’Alene region helping serve consumers and businesses who need the reliability of gig-speed upload and downloads more than ever,” Harold Zeitz, CEO of the Kirkland, Washington-based Ziply Fiber, said in the news release.

The company hopes to be able to provide service to all of the 24,000 businesses and residents in its initial build area, which includes Post Falls, by the end of the year, the release said.

“Area leaders were wonderful partners during the build-out process and acted quickly to assist us in bringing a blazingly-fast, data-cap free, fiber internet network to the area for the first time,” Zeitz said.

The fiber network is expected to improve internet connectivity to put the region on par with larger metropolitan areas. And, unlike some companies, Ziply Fiber does not currently charge installation fees or require annual contracts for residential plans, according to the release.

The company is investing $500 million and providing the fiber network to smaller cities, towns and rural communities across the Northwest that have been underserved when it comes to internet access.

As Ziply Fiber provides network access to the first addresses in the Coeur d’ Alene region, it will become the third company project ready for service in Idaho in less than a year, the company said.

“The city of Coeur d’ Alene is very happy to welcome Ziply Fiber to our community,” Coeur d’Alene Mayor Steve Widmyer said, “and we look forward to the quality service they will provide our citizens through their investment in our city.”