Blackfoot Communications Defaults on Hundreds of RDOF Locations

May 19, 2025 – Blackfoot Communications has notified the Federal Communications Commission that it is surrendering agency funding awarded to build fiber-to-the-premises broadband internet in three census block groups in Montana. Blackfoot disclosed its decision in a May 13 letter to Joseph Calascione, Chief of the FCC Wireline Competition Bureau.

The surrendered funding covered 688 of the 2,687 locations awarded to Blackfoot in a reverse auction under the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program in 2020. These locations included areas in Flathead, Gallatin, and Missoula counties. Blackfoot noted that surrendering control of these areas would allow them to become eligible for other federal funding, including Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program funding.

Blackfoot provides fiber and copper-based DSL to locations in Western Montana and Eastern Idaho. Founded in 1954 and based in Missoula, Montana, the company advertises DSL download speeds up to 40 Mbps and fiber download/upload speeds of up to 1000 Mbps and 500 Mbps respectively.

Blackfoot's default followed on the heels of similar action taken by Cable One, Mercury, and Lumen. Like these providers, Blackfoot argued that it had “experience[d] cost increases” and had “already spent significantly more capital than it had planned…” The surrender also contributed to previously voiced concerns about the feasibility of rolling out broadband access through the reverse auction process.