Fiber-Optic Connection to the Navajo Mountain Clinic Empowers Telehealth Opportunities in San Juan

On June 2, UTN celebrated a historic milestone in the effort to bring high-speed fiber connectivity to every area of the state, including its most remote region, San Juan County. State, tribal, education, healthcare, and community leaders gathered at Navajo Mountain High School to celebrate the completion of a critical fiber connection.

The 10-year project extended fiber to communities throughout San Juan County, from Blanding to Montezuma Creek and Monument Valley, before reaching Navajo Mountain, one of the most remote and geographically challenging areas to connect. Previously served by a limited microwave connection, Navajo Mountain is now connected by fiber, delivering significant improvements in reliability and speed. These new connections deliver reliable, high-speed broadband, expanding access to telehealth services.

Anthony Torres, Special Projects Manager in the Information Technology Department at the Utah Navajo Health System, represented the agency at the event. He asked the audience to let him “nerd out” for a moment while he talked about the importance of fiber-optic internet.

“In a telecommunications network, there are really four things that we're looking for. We're looking for reliability. We're looking for low latency. We're looking for low jitter and capacity or bandwidth,” he said. “We've been working—or maybe limping along might be a better description—on microwave networks for over 30 years. Microwave is reliable and has a low amount of jitter, but it does not have the capacity. Fiber-optic cable is really the only thing that will meet all four of those criteria.”

The finished network gives the clinic a massive increase in capacity. “When I started out at UNHS, we had a three-megabit connection out to the clinic here,” which, as he noted, was extremely slow. Microwave technology brought it up to 500 megabits, but the new connection? “By the time we’re done here, that should go from 2,000 to 2,500 megabits.”

“Connecting the Navajo Mountain Clinic to high‑capacity broadband is a game‑changer for the community,” said Sarah Bauman of the Utah Education and Telehealth Network (UETN). “This connection doesn’t just improve internet speed—it opens the door to telehealth services that reduce travel, expand access to care, and bring critical clinical expertise directly to families who have historically faced some of the longest travel distances in Utah.”

Jeff Egly, Associate Director of IT at the Utah Education and Telehealth Network, noted that all the communities along the path to Navajo Mountain can benefit from this project as well. “That infrastructure, on its way out to Navajo Mountain, is also benefiting wireless towers, businesses, and the community along the way,” he said. “As this kind of project comes through, it helps those communities and provides a springboard with infrastructure that makes other things possible.”

The project reflects extensive coordination among federal, state, tribal, and local partners. Emery Telcom led construction of the fiber network in partnership with UETN, San Juan School District, the Navajo Nation, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Utah Navajo Health System, and the Utah Department of Transportation. Together, these partners leveraged a range of programs to fund the project.

Brock Johansen, CEO of Emery Telcom, said, “The roots of Emery Telecom are founded in serving these rural areas. The DNA of the company is that we go into these hard-to-reach areas and find a way to serve rural customers.”

Leaders participating in the event included Dr. Derek Begay, Assistant Superintendent, San Juan School District; Anthony Torres, Special Projects Manager, Utah Navajo Health System; Sonia Nez, Executive Director, Navajo Nation Broadband Office; Dr. Buu Nygren, President, Navajo Nation; Brock Johansen, CEO/General Manager, Emery Telcom; and Spencer Jenkins, Executive Director, UETN.