Apache County wins $9.7 million broadband grant for fiber expansion

Apache County now has $9.7 million from the Arizona Commerce Authority to extend fiber service into eight communities, with construction starting first in Springerville and St. Johns slated for a later phase. The project is designed to reach more than 3,000 homes and businesses and to link county facilities through a countywide WAN, making internet access a basic service rather than a rural luxury.

The push grew from Superintendent Joy Whiting’s decision to put broadband access for schools, students and families near the top of the county agenda. Apache County says the effort was built with help from the Apache County Board of Supervisors, state lawmakers, Salt River Project, Tucson Electric Power, Commnet and the municipalities of Eagar and St. Johns, reflecting a region-wide attempt to solve a problem that has slowed schoolwork, small-business operations, telehealth and county communications.

The grant was approved on July 13, 2022, through Arizona’s Broadband Development Grant Program, which launched in November 2021 to expand high-speed internet in unserved and underserved areas. State officials said the program would award $100 million statewide and draw more than $112 million in local matching funds. In Apache County, SRP and TEP each committed $300,000 to help secure the award.

Those utility dollars were paired with an economic study by Rounds Consulting Group that projected the broadband buildout could support about 1,060 new jobs over the next decade. The study also estimated $185.5 million in annual economic output, $86.8 million in annual labor income and $3.2 million in annual state and local tax revenue, a reminder that the county is treating broadband as economic infrastructure with long-term budget consequences.

The county project information page says Ethos Broadband is using pre-existing middle-mile fiber, with the awarded provider identified as Ethos/Commnet. It names the build area as Alpine, Concho, Eagar, Greer, Nutrioso, Springerville, St. Johns and Vernon. The Town of Eagar said on Nov. 15, 2024, that construction had begun in Springerville and would ramp up in St. Johns after Thanksgiving, giving residents the first clear marker that the project had moved from planning into field work.

The broadband effort sits inside a larger regional response to years of unreliable service. In July 2025, Attorney General Kris Mayes announced that Frontier and Verizon would invest $8 million to expand and enhance broadband in Navajo and Apache counties, including more than $2 million to improve fiber reliability between St. Johns, Concho, Springerville, Vernon and Show Low and about $4 million to connect homes, businesses and public institutions directly to high-speed fiber. The first milestones Apache County residents should watch are continued work in Springerville, the St. Johns buildout after Thanksgiving and whether the network reaches the homes, schools and businesses that have waited longest for dependable service.