- The Bishop Paiute Tribe is the first customer of the California Middle-Mile Broadband Network
- Currently, the 423 miles near Bishop, California is the first segment of the MMBN that is complete and ready to connect
- Agreements with other ISPs are in the works to connect to the MMBN
The State of California has officially turned on the nation’s largest public, open-access, middle-mile broadband network (MMBN).
The state initiated its MMBN in 2021, and last week, the Bishop Paiute Tribe became its first customer. The tribe celebrated the connectivity with California Governor Gavin Newsom and other state leaders.
The new internet service in Bishop, California, is made possible by connecting to a 423-mile segment of the MMBN that runs along Highway 395 in the eastern Sierra Nevada region of the state.
The California Department of Technology (CDT) is the lead department for planning and constructing the middle-mile network.
A CDT spokesman told Fierce the fiber route near Bishop was originally installed by the California Broadband Cooperative (CBC). CDT purchased the fiber from CBC, installed new equipment in existing huts and connected the segment as part of the statewide middle-mile network.
In total, the MMBN is an 8,100-mile, middle-mile network, but it does not include last-mile service to individual end users such as residences or businesses. Individual internet service providers (ISPs) or similar entities are responsible for the last-mile connectivity.
In the case of the Bishop Paiute Tribe, it had previously built a last-mile network with limited capacity. But now, after connecting to the MMBN, the Tribe is expanding its last-mile network to additional locations.
The Bishop Paiute Tribe will independently manage and operate its broadband service as a tribally-owned ISP. This includes setting pricing and service offerings for households on and off the reservation.
Agreements with other California last-mile providers
Currently, the 423 miles near Bishop is the first segment of the MMBN that is complete and ready to connect. Another 4,800 miles of the MMBN is in various stages of construction, with new segments becoming operational throughout 2026 and beyond.
California’s open-access MMBN gives ISPs wholesale access to broadband infrastructure on equal economic and service terms.
Fierce asked if other ISPs have signed onto the MMBN yet, and the CDT spokesman said, “Other agreements are in the works.”
He said numerous ISPs have received Federal Funding Account (FFA) grant awards to build last-mile connections. More than 50 of those FFA awardees have indicated the intent to connect to MMBN. “CDT is working with these awardees to provide connections when the last-mile projects are ready for middle-mile service,” said the spokesman.
Since the MMBN is open access, any provider can connect to it as a means of providing last-mile service. Some of these may end up competing against each other in a given location.
Last-mile entities can use fiber, cable, DSL or satellite technologies. If they are an FFA awardee, they had to commit to an affordable pricing level for 5-10 years.
Open access networks
There are a few other states that have built public, open access, middle-mile networks, including Massachusetts and Maine.
However, California’s 8,100 mile MMBN is by far the largest.
In recent years there have also been initiatives to build last-mile, open access networks in North America.
AT&T’s joint venture with Gigapower is building open access networks outside AT&T’s legacy wired footprint. And in August 2025, Canada’s government ruled that broadband providers are required to wholesale their networks to competitors.
Utopia Fiber, SiFi Networks and Ubiquity are among other companies building open access fiber networks in the U.S.