Last year this site argued that community networks build faster and cheaper where incumbents decline to build, and that ownership is the part worth fighting for. Both claims now have numbers attached — from a city that published the good and the bad.

The numbers Lehi published

Lehi, Utah — a city of roughly 80,000 — completed its city-owned, open-access fiber network in August 2025. The city builds and owns the glass; Strata Networks, a local telecom cooperative, operates it; five independent ISPs (XMission, Sumo Fiber, CentraCom, Intellipop, Beehive Broadband) sell service over it. On September 17, 2026, Lehi Free Press marked the first anniversary with figures confirmed by the city's fiber manager:

  • 7,000+ active subscribers, an approximate 30% take rate across completed zones — up from 23–24% earlier in the rollout
  • Break-even requires roughly 10,500 subscribers (38% take rate); the city's original forecast put that milestone three to four years after build completion
  • Net Promoter Score of 56 — per the city, nearly double the industry average
  • 400+ miles of fiber, 23,000 locations passed, speeds up to 10-Gig, symmetrical gigabit at $77–80/month

Read the third line again, because it is the one most coverage skips. The network is well-liked, growing on schedule, and still losing money relative to its bond obligations. The city financed construction with a bond predicated on subscriber revenue; today's subscribers cover operations but not yet the full debt service. Officials are presenting an updated financial overview to council in October. The gap between 30% and 38% is the entire difference between a network that pays for itself and one that leans on the general fund.

What the numbers actually prove

Two things at once, and the second one matters more.

The demand model works. A 30% take rate a year after completion, in a market where Comcast and Quantum Fiber already operated, is a strong result. The trajectory — 23% to 30% in a year, with the city's own projections targeting 38% by year three to four — is tracking as designed. NPS 56 with five competing ISPs on one physical network is the open-access thesis confirmed in the field: residents choose among providers, pricing stays honest, and satisfaction runs high on city-owned infrastructure.

The financing math is the hard part, and it is public. The bond was sized against a specific take-rate assumption. The city stated the assumption publicly, tracks it monthly, and publishes progress against it. Today the network needs roughly 10,500 subscribers to "comfortably cover its financial obligations without relying on backup city funds," per the city's own framing. That is what separates infrastructure ownership from ribbon-cutting: the take-rate assumption is a promise the network has to keep, and everyone in town can watch it being kept or missed.

The counterexample that proves the point

One week before Lehi's anniversary, East Longmeadow, Massachusetts — about 16,000 residents — unanimously voted to appropriate $43.5 million to build a town-owned fiber network. Both towns own their infrastructure; the difference is who sells the service: Lehi runs open access with five competing ISPs, while East Longmeadow is contracting Westfield Gas & Electric's Whip City Fiber as its operator under the municipal light plant model. One state away and the contrast with its neighbor is instructive. Three months earlier, town meeting voters in Longmeadow rejected a $8.6 million proposal for their own network, explicitly because the financial model had not been vetted with them. Spectrum lobbied against East Longmeadow's plan too. The council approved it anyway — citing neighboring towns' 50% take rates, a phased borrowing structure paid from subscriber revenue, and a ballot measure from 2023 in which voters had already approved creating a Municipal Light Plant.

Same region, same incumbent, opposite outcomes — and the variable that decided both was whether the take-rate math was public and believed before the vote. Longmeadow said no to a number it hadn't seen. East Longmeadow said yes to one it had.

The two-number test

Put the two data points together and you get a due-diligence instrument a community can apply before borrowing:

  1. Demand: what take rate does the model assume, what have comparable networks actually achieved, and is the gap between them a plan or a hope? Lehi's real 30% is the public benchmark — a network with satisfied customers, five ISPs competing on city glass, and a realistic three-to-four-year path to its own break-even.
  2. Governance: who sees the numbers, and when? Lehi publishes monthly progress and briefs council on schedule. Longmeadow rejected a proposal because voters couldn't inspect the model first.

The pattern holds beyond fiber. A community group, co-op, or small business standing up shared servers faces the same structure: the build is the cheap part, the operating cost is the commitment, and the model only survives if the people paying for it can see it. Municipal networks are just the version with the largest dollar figures and the clearest accountability. The procurement principle — controllability after the supplier changes — is the software-side twin of the take-rate test: both are about who holds the levers when the ribbon-cutting photos age.

Ownership is not a vibe. It is a bond repayment schedule with a take-rate target attached, and the honesty to publish both. Lehi's year-one numbers are worth reading in full for exactly that reason: they show a community network winning on adoption and satisfaction, still short on revenue against its financing plan, and — crucially — telling everyone so.

Sources: Lehi Free Press, September 17, 2026 (figures confirmed by Lehi City Fiber Manager Shaye Ruitenbeek); communitynetworks.org completion coverage; Strata Networks project announcement; Light Reading on East Longmeadow; communitynetworks.org on East Longmeadow; The Reminder, August 13, 2026; Lehi City fiber pages.