Blackfoot Communications is a member-owned telecommunications cooperative founded in 1954, when ranchers near Clinton, Montana set out to bring voice service to remote communities. Headquartered in Missoula, the company has since expanded well beyond its origins in rural telephony: it now provides voice, broadband, network, managed and cybersecurity services to homes and businesses across the Western United States, with particular concentration in Western Montana and eastern Idaho. More than 70 years after its founding, it continues to operate on a cooperative structure.
The company's technical work spans broadband and fibre infrastructure, voice and telecommunications, network services, managed services and cybersecurity, including SASE (Secure Access Service Edge). Its broadband offering is being extended through a multi-year fibre upgrade project aimed at bringing high-speed connectivity to historically underserved communities. For business customers it provides network connectivity solutions throughout the Pacific Northwest, alongside managed technology services; a deployed Cato Private Point of Presence supports its managed SASE offering, and it supplies cybersecurity solutions to business clients.
Blackfoot Communications describes its mission as serving rural and underserved communities, a principle it traces to its founding. The cooperative supports local schools, organisations and causes throughout Western Montana and eastern Idaho, and states that it pairs investment in local communities with the adoption of new technologies.
