Low cost, citywide dark fiber for telecommunications companies, wireless operators, enterprise networks, data centers and others with critical, high capacity needs.
Riverside Public Utilities offers dark fiber leases on its 120-mile network, which connects office buildings, industrial properties and data centers, and serves 5G-ready sites throughout the city limits. Internet service providers or wireless operators can lease fiber and use it to deliver connectivity to customers, and businesses can use it to create their own wide area enterprise networks. More locations will be added, with the goal of making dark fiber connections available to industrial and commercial customers everywhere in Riverside.
Industrial-class networking for businesses
Dark fiber leasing for data centers, telecommunications companies, enterprise networks and other businesses with critical, high capacity needs.
Riverside Public Utilities operates a fiber optic network with connections to a limited number of office buildings, industrial properties and data centers within the Riverside city limits. As the network grows, more locations will be added, with the goal of making dark fiber connections available to industrial and commercial customers throughout the city.
Dark fiber is a fundamental building block of high speed data networks. RPU provides a physical connection between two or more customer locations, or between customers and third-party facilities such as data centers. Customers install and maintain their own equipment on both ends of the connection and "light up" the fiber strands they lease, subject to RPU's terms of service.
For Internet Service Providers
Fiber connections to your customers
The RPU dark fiber network is open access. Any ISP can lease fiber and use it to deliver bandwidth to customers. It features:
- 120 route-miles of fiber, throughout the City of Riverside.
- Seven on-net buildings in Downtown Riverside, with more on the way.
- Connected to RC3, a multi-carrier data center operated by the County of Riverside, with a connection to Level 3's Marlborough data center under development.
- Connected to Southern California Edison's regional dark fiber and lit services network.
- Owned, operated and maintained by Riverside Public Utilities.
For mobile carriers, wireless ISPs and infrastructure companies
Fiber, poles and power throughout the City of Riverside
Riverside Public Utilities delivers electricity to every location within the city limits, using both wholly-owned and jointly-owned utility poles. Combined with our 120 mile dark fiber network, these fully powered vertical assets offer an unmatched opportunity for deployment of next generation wireless networks
Can I get Internet service from RPU?
No. RPU only provides physical fiber connections (Layer 1) between two or more locations. To use a water analogy, we only offer an empty pipe.
How do I get high speed Internet service via RPU's fiber network?
There are two ways. You can lease a dark fiber connection to a data center, an Internet exchange point or a commercial Internet service provider, install the necessary equipment and buy bulk Internet bandwidth. Or you can work with a third-party telecommunications company to obtain the necessary dedicated connection and/or Internet connectivity.
What if there’s a problem with the fiber I lease from RPU?
RPU’s operations center is staffed 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You’ll have an emergency number to call anytime there’s a problem with the fiber you lease from us.
I'm in an office building. Can I share a connection with other tenants?
Yes. RPU's fiber terminates at a particular place in any given building, usually in a telecommunications closet or other "minimum point of entry" (MPOE). Past that point, all cabling, routers and other equipment is the customer's responsibility. It is up to the customer to decide who is served and how it is done.
My building isn't on the "On-Net" list. Can I still get a fiber connection from RPU?
Yes. RPU can provide an estimate of the cost of extending our existing network to any commercial or industrial property in Riverside.
Can I get a fiber connection from RPU at my house?
No. RPU only leases fiber to commercial customers.
Monthly Lease Rates
| Standard Fiber Service | Per Month | Notes |
| Strand-mile, first ten (10) strand miles | $125.00 | One (1) strand-mile minimum charge per leased strand, thereafter by tenth of mile (0.10) |
| Strand-mile, additional strand-miles | $100.00 | By tenth of mile (0.10) |
| Drops/laterals | $150.00 | Minimum per mile or tenth of mile (0.10) fraction thereof, up to twelve (12) strands |
| End Points | $150.00 | Up to twelve (12) strands |
| Additional Terms | ||
| Discount for 10 year minimum term | 30% | Per strand-mile, not applicable to drops/laterals or end points |
Master Planned Projects
Riverside Public Utilities has a roadmap for future development and expansion of our dark fiber network. We maintain, and periodically update, a list of Master Planned projects. When a customer’s request for a network extension coincides with a future, planned project, RPU will pay for 50% of the installation cost.
Public Agency Amortization
RPU offers public agencies the option of financing non-recurring capital costs over the term of an agreement, at a 4% interest rate.
Customer’s Installation Cost Responsibility
The customer is responsible for the cost of installation work done at the customer's premises and/or at billable end points. The customer is also responsible for the cost of new construction work, if any, required to reach the premises and/or end points, including the cost of building new facilities needed to complete intermediate connections. Such work will be billed at the work order cost plus 15%, payable in advance.
RPU’s Cost Responsibility
RPU is responsible for the cost of work needed to complete intermediate connections at existing RPU facilities along the leased fiber path, including but not limited to patch panels, splice cases and crossconnects. This responsibility includes work needed to expand the capacity of an existing RPU facility, for example adding a second patch panel or terminating additional fiber strands.
Third Party Costs
The customer is responsible for all costs associated with third parties, including but not limited to data centers, exchanges and telecommunications service providers, even when such work is necessary to complete intermediate connections. Whenever possible, such costs will be billed directly to the customer by the third party. If it is necessary for the third party to bill RPU, then RPU will re-bill the customer at the invoice cost plus 15%.
Fiber Capital Cost Summary and Participation
| Facility | Installation Cost Calculation | Customer Responsibility | RPU Participation |
| Fiber Network Extensions | Work Order Cost +15% | 100% of Actual | 0% |
| Fiber Drops – 12 strand or more | Work Order Cost +15% | 100% of Actual | 0% |
| Master Planned Projects | Work Order Cost +15% | 50% of Actual | 50% of Actual |
Dark Fiber Rates
Initial rates may be locked-in for up to five years, subject to a 2% annual cost of living increase. After the end of an initial (or subsequent) five year (or shorter) term, the rate will be the then-current published rate, as established by the Riverside City Council. This renewal rate may be similarly locked in for up to five years.
Payment
Lease fees are due in advance on an annual (calendar year) basis. Payment is due 30 days after invoicing, which will be done on a pro-rated basis for initial and final years, and on January 1st of intervening years.
Discount
A 30% discount will be applied to the fiber lease rate (but not to the drop/lateral/end point fee) for agreements of 10 years or more.
RPU Master Planned Projects: 2017- 2020
| Location | Extent | Minimum Capacity |
| Magnolia Avenue/Market Street | First Street to Buchannan Avenue | 288 fiber |
| University Avenue | Market Street to Canyon Crest Drive | 288 fiber |
| Chicago Avenue | Martin Luther King Boulevard to Marlborough Avenue | 288 fiber |
| Iowa Avenue | Martin Luther King Boulevard to Palmyrita Avenue | 288 fiber |
| Pierce Street | Magnolia Avenue to Riverwalk Parkway | 96 fiber |
Master Planned Projects
Riverside Public Utilities has a roadmap for future development and expansion of our dark fiber network. We maintain, and periodically update, a list of Master Planned projects. When a customer’s request for a network extension coincides with a future, planned project, RPU will pay for 50% of the installation cost.
Physical Security
Only the fiber optic cable strands that a customer leases or that are used to monitor cable continuity will be terminated at a customer’s location. Customers will not have access to strands used by other customers or by Riverside Public Utilities.