Maui just vaulted into the fast lane: Hawaiian Telcom says the island is now fully fiber enabled, making it the fourth island in Hawai‘i to hit that benchmark as the company races to turn the entire state into an all-fiber zone by year-end. The upgrade means homes and businesses across Maui can now tie directly into the company’s Fioptics fiber network, with symmetrical upload and download speeds meant to keep up with telehealth, remote work and online learning. Hawaiian Telcom says the statewide rollout is part of a roughly $1.7 billion investment that kicked off with a public announcement in January 2025.
In its Maui announcement, Hawaiian Telcom said the new milestone pushes it to “approximately 88 percent” of its statewide target and spotlighted Fioptics as its 100 percent fiber service. Company president Su Shin said, “We’re working hard to ensure Hawai‘i’s people are not left behind in a world that relies on moving massive amounts of data at top speeds,” while Maui Mayor Richard Bissen praised the upgraded network for bolstering local businesses and community resilience, according to Maui Now.
That January 2025 press release framed the expansion as a $1.7 billion public-private effort to push fiber across the islands and noted that federal and state broadband programs helped cover portions of the build. Hawaiian Telcom has repeatedly stressed that the project is meant to deliver gig-class, symmetrical speeds to more homes and businesses statewide, according to the release from BusinessWire.
Build progress across the islands
According to Hawaiian Telcom, Moloka‘i and Lāna‘i hit full fiber status in 2023, Kaua‘i followed in mid-2025, and Maui has now joined the club. When Kaua‘i crossed the finish line, the company pegged statewide coverage at roughly 65 percent and projected that Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi Island would wrap up by the end of 2026. Those timelines and progress figures are laid out in Hawaiian Telcom’s Kaua‘i milestone announcement: Hawaiian Telcom.
What residents and businesses will actually see
The company says Fioptics brings lower latency and symmetrical capacity compared with older copper and cable connections, which should make it easier for households to juggle several video calls, cloud backups and telehealth appointments at the same time. Hawaiian Telcom’s materials, along with the January 2025 release, describe the network as a gig-capable, fiber-to-the-premises build designed to support modern education, telemedicine and business applications for both urban and rural customers.
Questions ahead: funding, coverage and competition
The aggressive buildout is likely to keep regulators and community advocates busy as they track coverage maps, pricing and how the final stretch gets handled in higher-cost, low-density areas. Federal programs and state broadband planning could influence who delivers those last-mile connections: Hawai‘i secured approval to use roughly $149 million in BEAD funds, and preliminary awards named Hawaiian Telcom and Amazon’s low-earth-orbit effort among recipients, a development reported in coverage of 149 million in BEAD funds. Community groups and elected officials are expected to press for clear timelines, affordability measures and coverage that reaches the most remote households as the buildout nears the finish line.
Hawaiian Telcom says it remains on track to meet its 2026 goal and is encouraging customers to check when Fioptics will be available at their address. For now, Maui residents and businesses have a fresh option for gig-capable fiber service that local leaders say will support recovery, resilience and long-term economic activity, according to Maui Now.
