Broadband Community Profile: Flagstaff, AZ

Flagstaff (AZ) tells the story of how one city turned a broadband gap into a model for municipal fiber deployment. Long underserved by incumbent providers, Flagstaff recognized that reliable, high-speed connectivity was essential not just for city operations, but for the economic future of the broader region—enabling remote work, telemedicine, education, and business growth across rural northern Arizona. Rather than building and operating its own network, the city took a smarter path: leveraging its existing conduit infrastructure and $2 million in America Rescue Plan Act funding to attract a committed private-sector partner. Through a competitive RFP process, Flagstaff selected Wecom Fiber, an Arizona-based provider backed by Searchlight Capital Partners, whose community-first approach and financial capacity made it the right fit for a long-term partnership. The profile details how city leaders and Wecom worked through complex negotiations—from permitting and right-of-way agreements to a landmark decision to allow microtrenching after a successful pilot program—to keep construction on track and costs in check. The result is a fiber network that will pass over 30,000 locations within city limits, connect 34 municipal facilities at a fraction of the standalone cost, and extend an additional 815 miles across Coconino County. The project is expected to inject at least $100 million into the local economy over five years and support hundreds of direct and indirect jobs.