[Rexburg, Idaho] – Yesterday, October 9th, Lightbridge Fiber Network celebrated the completion of its city-wide mainline with all of Rexburg. This milestone achievement was recognized at Porter Park with an open invite for food and family fun to the whole city. Those in attendance had the opportunity to hear from Mayor Jerry Merrill, Chief Information Officer of Rexburg Todd Smith, Chief Financial Officer of Silver Star Jeff England, and Chief Information Officer of Silver Star Brock Walters.
Lightbridge Fiber Network is a partnership between Silver Star and the city of Rexburg, which has served the city for the last two years. In that time, Lightbridge built over 19 miles of fiber throughout the entire city and brought open-access internet to thousands of residents.
“They did a fantastic job.” Said Smith. “It’s a dream we had years ago that’s finally coming true.”
Mayor Merrill commended Lightbridge and Silver Star for their fast and efficient work while keeping construction areas clean. He mentioned that Lightbridge receives a low number of complaints during the construction season because of their ability to put lawns back together post-construction. Mayor Merrill also gave a special shoutout to Lightbridge’s Construction Inspector McKay Porter complimenting his leadership skills and work ethic. Mayor Merrill also commented on the city’s vision for everyone to be connected by fiber.
“As an internet service provider who has been doing this for many years, we share that vision with the city of Rexburg to build connectivity out to everyone.” said England.
Fiber is the best internet option available today. It is the fastest and most consistent connection. As a growing college town, Rexburg has a developing need to provide future-focused infrastructure solutions that support both residents and the university. Fiber is the best decision for Rexburg’s future. Fiber internet is a futureproofed connectivity solution that provides enough connectivity for the demands of today, while still having plenty of capacity to support the demands of tomorrow all for a lower upkeep and better connection than satellite or tower-based internet.
“What we are doing makes great internet affordable and gives consumers more choice than other options.” said Walters.
Open access networks like Lightbridge allow customers to choose from multiple service providers competing on the same network. This means that the customer can choose a different service provider whenever they want without the need for any additional construction. Simply pick up a plan from a provider that works for you and change whenever you want.
The event was full of families enjoying free food while children played in three different bouncy houses. Construction equipment was on display, and internet service providers on the network were there to hand out swag and answer questions.
Lightbridge and Silver Star would like to acknowledge the attendance of Sydney Decker from the office of Congressman Mike Simpson, and Kyle Wilson from the office of Senator James Risch, and thank them for stopping by to show support.
While the celebration is over, the work has just begun. Lightbridge and Silver Star are hard at work crafting a new build plan that capitalizes on this milestone and brings fiber to more Rexburg Residents in 2026.
