--- title: "#8 Open Access Momentum in Kitsap County: More Choice, More Miles, More Momentum" description: Join our live webinar today with VETRO to learn how integrated workflows can accelerate your broadband success. Discover tips to reduce costs and speed up customer activation. image: https://insights.cossystems.com/hubfs/Advent%20Calendar%20496x300%208.png --- ![](https://insights.cossystems.com/hubfs/Advent%20Calendar%20496x300%208.png) Kitsap Public Utility District (KPUD) is lighting up more of Kitsap County, Washington (pop. ~280,000) with a community-owned, open-access fiber network—designed for choice and built for scale. What’s new: With $6.6M in funding and resident payments, KPUD is adding 21 distribution nodes slated to be completed by early 2026, boosting capacity and lowering per-home connection costs. The open-access wholesale model lets multiple ISPs deliver service over the same network, increasing competition and affordability for residents and businesses. ### At a glance - Where: Kitsap County, WA - Model: Community-owned, open-access fiber; KPUD owns infrastructure and wholesales capacity to ISPs - Scale: 900+ miles of fiber today; 21 new nodes underway (ARPA) - Choice: 6 residential ISPs on the marketplace + 5 business-only ISPs - Future builds: Provisional BEAD award targeting ~4,000 homes and 9,000 passings over ~5 years (pending NTIA final award) ### How COS helps KPUD has run on COS since 2016—starting with demand aggregation and now operating with COS Business Engine to automate sign-ups, orders, zero-touch provisioning, billing, and wholesale operations across providers. That means residents can check availability, request estimates, finance connections (LUD/NCLUD), and manage services in a self-service customer portal, while KPUD and ISPs scale without adding headcount linearly. ### Open-access, explained ### Open access separates the infrastructure, operations, and services layers so many providers can compete over the same fiber—think “one airport, many airlines.” It’s a proven path to higher take-rates, better service and support, and healthier local markets. ### Why it works in Kitsap - Public ownership keeps universal coverage and long-term community value at the center. - Open competition gives households and businesses real choice on a shared asset. - Funding stack (ARPA + BEAD + LUD/NCLUD) closes the capital gap. - Automation via COS Business Engine provides a 24/7 marketplace, zero-touch provisioning, and wholesale billing that reconciles usage across providers with live network status. ### What’s next The 21-node ARPA program is underway, with completion targeted by Q1 2026. As BEAD areas go to construction, KPUD plans to use the COS customer portal as the single source of truth for location-level timelines and eligibility—keeping customers informed and sign-ups moving. COS in one line: End-to-end automation for planning, selling, provisioning, and settling services in open-access networks—so operators like KPUD can grow faster with less friction. Want to learn more? [ Download the Case Study ](https://share.hsforms.com/1LrebM5H5Tn-KqCurgidqrw1l3qo) [ Reach out and learn more! ](https://www.cossystems.com/contact-us/)   ## Related Articles [![](https://insights.cossystems.com/hubfs/Advent%20Calendar%20496x300%2011.png) ](https://insights.cossystems.com/cos-advent-calendar/11-cos-wholesale-engine-the-orchestrator-for-open-access-ma-driven-fiber-networks) [Campaigns](https://insights.cossystems.com/cos-advent-calendar/tag/campaigns) [Promotions](https://insights.cossystems.com/cos-advent-calendar/tag/promotions) ### [#11 COS Wholesale Engine: The Orchestrator for Open Access & M&A-Driven Fiber Networks](https://insights.cossystems.com/cos-advent-calendar/11-cos-wholesale-engine-the-orchestrator-for-open-access-ma-driven-fiber-networks) As Open Access and wholesale fiber models take off, many operators are hitting the same wall: their legacy BSS/OSS stacks weren’t built for multi-ISP, multi-vendor, or... ![Maren Buchmüller](https://insights.cossystems.com/hs-fs/hubfs/1687264710275.jpeg?width=45&name=1687264710275.jpeg) [Maren Buchmüller](https://insights.cossystems.com/cos-advent-calendar/author/maren-buchmüller) [Read More](https://insights.cossystems.com/cos-advent-calendar/11-cos-wholesale-engine-the-orchestrator-for-open-access-ma-driven-fiber-networks) [![](https://insights.cossystems.com/hubfs/Advent%20Calendar%20496x300%2025.png) ](https://insights.cossystems.com/cos-advent-calendar/25-thank-you-for-being-part-of-this-years-cos-advent-calendar) ### [#25 Thank You for Being Part of this Year's COS Advent Calendar](https://insights.cossystems.com/cos-advent-calendar/25-thank-you-for-being-part-of-this-years-cos-advent-calendar) As our Advent Calendar comes to an end, we want to take a moment to say thank you.Throughout December, we’ve shared insights, ideas, and stories from across COS Systems,... ![Maren Buchmüller](https://insights.cossystems.com/hs-fs/hubfs/1687264710275.jpeg?width=45&name=1687264710275.jpeg) [Maren Buchmüller](https://insights.cossystems.com/cos-advent-calendar/author/maren-buchmüller) [Read More](https://insights.cossystems.com/cos-advent-calendar/25-thank-you-for-being-part-of-this-years-cos-advent-calendar) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Maren Buchmüller", "url" : "https://insights.cossystems.com/cos-advent-calendar/author/maren-buchmüller" }, "dateModified" : "2025-12-08T18:01:57.046Z", "datePublished" : "2025-12-08T18:01:57.000Z", "headline" : "#8 Open Access Momentum in Kitsap County: More Choice, More Miles, More Momentum", "image" : [ "https://insights.cossystems.com/hubfs/Advent%20Calendar%20496x300%208.png" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://insights.cossystems.com/cos-advent-calendar/8-open-access-momentum-in-kitsap", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://insights.cossystems.com/hubfs/cos.png" }, "name" : "COS Systems" } } ```