City Manager's Report by Robby Hammond:

Our HiLight team recently celebrated connecting their 2,000^th high-speed broadband internet subscriber with Amelia’s Exquisite Mexican Dining in Downtown Hillsboro.

Amelia Mondragon and her son Josue own two Amelia’s locations in Hillsboro. HiLight’s high speeds will help staff process online orders and credit card payments.

Amelia’s is one of the first to get HiLight’s upgraded Business Wi-Fi Management, offering safe customer Wi-Fi access with a login screen that highlights the restaurant and collects emails for future communication. All for about half the price of other business internet providers.

Built for Our Community

HiLight was created to serve our community. We wanted to close the digital divide that exists, particularly impacting lower-income households and older residents. As a demonstration of HiLight’s commitment to community values and equity, HiLight’s first service areas were in areas where connectivity needs were greatest.

We offer reduced-pricing for income-qualifying residents to get 1 Gigagbit internet service with managed Wi-Fi for only $10 per month. That includes ProtectIQ, our firewall that prevents malicious traffic from entering your home. At the same time, our goal is to boost economic opportunities by supporting our small businesses with abundant bandwidth at a fantastic price.

Compared to other providers, HiLight has saved small businesses like Amelia’s more than $600,000 since we began connecting customers in 2020. Just having HiLight’s presence in the Hillsboro market has helped lower internet pricing foreveryone. Through added competition, even Hillsboro residents and businesses who get internet service from another provider see lower prices.

For community members who want to sign up for HiLight service but live outside of our current service area, rest assured, we hear your enthusiasm. We appreciate getting so many supportive HiLight customer phone calls, emails, and messages on social media forums like Reddit.

It takes time and money to build out a high-speed fiber network to serve our entire community of 111,000 residents and businesses. Our plan for HiLight’s expansion is financially responsible. We’re making sure HiLight grows with careful planning for long-term success. Thanks to the HiLight team and Amelia’s, we’re now at 2,000 connections and counting.

If you’re ready to sign up for HiLight service, see if we’re in your neighborhood here: Hillsboro-Oregon.gov/HiLight

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