Construction crews have begun work on Fort Bragg’s long-awaited municipal fiber network, which will ultimately bring affordable fiber to the California city of 7,000.
The total cost of the project is estimated to be $17 million. Of that, $10 million will be paid for by a Last Mile Federal Funding Account (FFA) grant from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), awarded in February to help fund the construction of a Middle Mile Broadband Network (MMBN) that will run directly through the heart of Ft. Bragg.
The remaining project costs will be paid for by a $7 million, 20-year loan at 4.85 percent from EverBank, recently approved by the Fort Bragg city council.
“This project is a cornerstone for the future of Fort Bragg,” City Manager Isaac Whippy said of the milestone. “Reliable, high-speed internet is no longer a luxury – it’s a necessity. With this investment, we’re closing the digital divide and making Fort Bragg a more connected, competitive, and inclusive community.”
According to a city announcement, Ft. Bragg’s citywide fiber network, 170 miles north of San Francisco, is being designed with a centralized data hub and 15 Distribution Areas (DAs). Using horizontal directional drilling, crews will install conduit and fiber underground – primarily beneath sidewalks and alleys – connecting to a fiber terminal located near the edge of the city’s right-of-way at each property.
Phase II of the project will involve installing service drops to individual properties once service is requested by Fort Bragg residents. Economic development manager Sarah McCormick told the Medocino Voice that the goal is to complete 100 feet of horizontal drilling per day.
According to the city’s website, core infrastructure construction is expected to be completed by June of 2026. Formal pricing has yet to be announced, but the city says it’s aiming to offer symmetrical 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) fiber access for as little as $50 a month.
Like so many U.S. markets, Fort Bragg has historically suffered from a lack of competition among regional telecom giants AT&T and Comcast, resulting in spotty access, high prices, slow speeds, and substandard customer service.
The city’s solution to this market failure is being heavily buoyed by California’s $6 billion California “Broadband For All” initiative, aimed at boosting broadband competition and driving down costs statewide. The state initiative was made possible, in large part, thanks to the federal 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (2021).
California’s plan includes California’s $2 billion Last Mile Federal Funding Account Grant Program (FFA) and the $3 billion Middle-Mile Broadband Initiative (MMBI), which are helping extend fiber access deeper into unserved and underserved areas of California.
As FFA grant awards such as the one Fort Bragg received began rolling out in June of 2024, we’ve been tracking how and where that money is being spent. What has emerged is a picture of a state broadband program that has proven to be an unprecedented success for community networks.
To get a better picture of how well community broadband projects have fared in California, see our new two-part interactive dashboard based on CPUC data that helps visualize the success of community-based broadband projects under the state's transformative FFA program.
Inline image of construction crew deploying fiber network courtesy of Ft Bragg, CA Facebook page
