Cityside Fiber wants to make Irvine one of the most connected cities in the U.S.<\/p>\n
The Irvine-based internet service provider says it\u2019s planning to invest more than $50 million in Irvine\u2019s high-speed network over the coming years.<\/p>\n
The ambitious program will provide 100% fiber-optic internet access to tens of thousands of residences and businesses currently unserved, the company said earlier this month.<\/p>\n
Thousands of Irvine homes and businesses will gain access to high-speed internet through the network expansion.<\/p>\n
Cityside Fiber said the more than $50 million will be invested in Irvine\u2019s infrastructure, as the company works in partnership with city officials to build comprehensive\u00a0fiber-optic coverage across multiple neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
The project is being carried out in collaboration with the city of Irvine.<\/p>\n
Walnut, College Park<\/p>\n
The project has already begun in the Irvine neighborhoods of Walnut and College Park, with installations planned for El Camino Real, Turtle Rock and Northwood communities before the year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n
Cityside will invest the money in Irvine\u2019s infrastructure and will also support connectivity at city facilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are able to service about 25,000 homes right now in Orange County,\u201d Cityside CEO Rod Hanson told the Business Journal on Sept. 18.<\/p>\n
Cityside Fiber has been expanding its fiber service across Orange County over the last two years, bringing high-speed internet to six local cities, including its first Irvine neighborhood of West Irvine earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Other OC locations the company already services include Tustin, North Tustin, Mission Viejo, Lake Forest and Dana Point, in addition to Irvine.<\/p>\n
SoCal Expansion Seen<\/p>\n
Hanson says the sites it services so far are primarily residential, with more businesses to be added starting in early 2026.<\/p>\n
He says there are \u201ca few thousand businesses that we\u2019ve already passed\u2014we just have not marketed services to those folks yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Growth is on the horizon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do intend to grow and expand throughout Southern California,\u201d according to Hanson.
\u201cAll of our metrics for growth are on target.\u201d<\/p>\n
He foresees the company becoming profitable in 2026.<\/p>\n
Hanson says the company raised a little over $100 million in 2023 and is now majority-owned by SDC Capital Partners which provided the funding and is the primary equity investor. Hanson is a minority owner.<\/p>\n
Streets, Irvine Community<\/p>\n
Cityside Fiber is focusing its initial development on public streets, but the initiative intends to connect as much of the Irvine community as possible.<\/p>\n
The company, which was founded in 2021, currently has 115 employees. The company is the No. 11-ranked telecom firm in Orange County.<\/p>\n
Cityside Fiber is a fiber-to-the-premise developer and internet service provider.<\/p>\n
With so much emphasis on wireless, some people may be asking the question of whether fiber can survive in the new era.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the question should be the other way around,\u201d Hanson says. \u201cFiber will always be the backbone of the networks, including wireless networks. They rely heavily on fiber as well to connect the cell sites.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fiber is \u201cdefinitely a foundation regardless of which technology you\u2019re focused on\u201d and has pretty much unlimited capacity, according to the CEO.<\/p>\n
Fiber can be connected in one of three ways: existing overhead structure, buried cables or the utilization of existing conduits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cityside Fiber wants to make Irvine one of the most connected cities in the U.S. The Irvine-based internet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1638,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-168468","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-internet","8":"tag-internet","9":"tag-technology","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}