That is the name of the city’s new municipal broadband utility.

The utility, which will be capable of bringing fiber optic cable to every address in Fort Dodge, has been in the works since voters gave the city government the power to pursue it during a November 2019 referendum.

After months of study, the City Council voted in July 2021 to proceed with creating a broadband system.

The Fort Dodge Fiber name and logo were unveiled Jan. 24.

City officials plan to have the first customers connected to the system by the end of this year.

“People will be hooked up to Fort Dodge Fiber this year,” Assistant City Manager Ryan Maehl said. “That’s really exciting to say that it’s now instead of in the future.”

Recruitment of the first Fort Dodge Fiber employees is underway. Those first employees will be the director of the utility, a network engineer, a customer experience manager and a worker whose job will be locating underground utilities so that installation of the system doesn’t damage pipes, gas mains and underground cables.

A former gas station at Eighth Street and Second Avenue South was purchased by the city to be converted into a base for the technicians who will do installation and maintenance work.

Maehl said the design of the system is about 90 percent complete. Its construction is expected to begin in mid-summer.

People who are interested in getting the broadband service will be able to pre-register for it this spring.

Fort Dodge will become the second largest city in Iowa with a municipal broadband utility. Cedar Falls is the largest Iowa city to have one.

The City Council has borrowed about $33.4 million to pay for constructing the system. It also borrowed about $3.5 million to pay for initial operating expenses. Those debts will be paid off with revenue generated by the utility, not tax dollars.

The City Council has set these prices for the Fort Dodge Fiber services:

• $75 a month for residential service with upload and download speeds of up to 100 megabits per second.

• $95 a month for residential service with upload and download speeds of up to 1,000 megabits per second.

• $20 per phone line per month for residential phone service.

• $100 a month for business service with upload and download speeds of up to 100 megabits per second.

• $250 a month for business service with upload and download speeds of up to 250 megabits per second.

• $500 a month for business service with upload and download speeds of up to 1,000 megabits per second.

• $75 a month per phone line for business phone service.