New $50M project will improve internet access in northern Arizona

FLAGSTAFF, AZ (AZFamily) — Quick and reliable internet is part of everyday life for most people, but can often be taken for granted. Many people in rural parts of Arizona struggle with broadband and reliable internet access, even in downtown Flagstaff.

However, a partnership with the city of Flagstaff and the broadband company Wecom Fiber began a multi-million-dollar project to fix this problem.

The average American can get a download rate of 214 megabits per second. Arizona’s Family tested speed around Flagstaff, and it ranged from 120 to just 30 Mbps.

James Peters works downtown at a coffee shop. He said local businesses have free Wi-Fi that draws guests in, but it doesn’t always work.

He also said he almost couldn’t move to Flagstaff in 2020 because of the internet problems.

“It almost stopped me from moving up here,” Peters said. “I was like, I can’t do my job remotely like that. I was afraid I would actually not be able to move to Flagstaff.

Flagstaff Mayor Becky Daggett said, thankfully, the city is partnering with Wecom Fiber for a $5 million high-speed, fiber-broadband project to improve internet speeds at 34 city facilities. The first phase broke ground last week.

“I think that most residents of Flagstaff would, I’m sure, immediately nodding when we say we’re going to be installing fiber throughout town because we really need it,” Daggett said.

She said it will help with everything from internet speed at the local Boys and Girls Club to emergency services response time.

“We want to make sure is that every neighborhood has it,” Daggett said. “Everyone has the same access to online education, to telehealth, to just everything that can make citizens’ lives better. In terms of the city, employees can get their work done faster. They can provide better customer service.”

WeCom is also investing $45 million to build a 1.1 million-foot, fiber-broadband network for almost all of Flagstaff. CEO Paul Fleming said this will greatly impact quality of life, from education to work and healthcare.

“Where you have a lot of people, especially in rural areas, who’ll struggle driving an hour or two to three hours to get to the doctor,” Fleming said. “This gives them the ability to, either from their home or a local Community Center like a library to be able to go there and communicate directly with their doctor and get that healthcare that they desperately need without adding all that travel time.”

The company has similar projects across Northern Arizona. Fleming said their company was founded in Kingman in the 50s, so rural access to high-speed internet is important to them.

“That’s where we spend all of our time now is building fiber future-proof networks throughout the state,” he said. “So that we can really help Flagstaff move forward in this digital age.”

The project should be completed in three years, and the first customers should start noticing the difference this summer.

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