Establish a Tribal Broadband Fund

Recommendation #81

FCC Chapter: 8.18

Status: Completed

Congress should consider establishing a Tribal Broadband Fund to support sustainable broadband deployment and adoption in Tribal lands, and all federal agencies that upgrade connectivity on Tribal lands should coordinate such upgrades with Tribal governments and the Tribal Broadband Fund grant-making process.

Grants from a new Tribal Broadband Fund would be used for a variety of purposes, including bringing high-capacity connectivity to Tribal headquarters or other anchor institutions, deployment planning, infrastructure buildout, feasibility
studies, technical assistance, business plan development and implementation, digital literacy, and outreach.

A portion of the fund should be allocated to provide small, targeted grants on an expedited basis for Internet access and adoption programs.

The fund should be administered by National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in consultation with the Federal Communications Commission and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

In order to provide state-of-the-art services to Tribal communities and promote the deployment of high-capacity infrastructure on Tribal lands, Congress should consider providing ongoing public funding for federal facilities serving Tribal lands in order to upgrade and maintain their broadband infrastructure.

All federal agencies that upgrade network connectivity on Tribal lands should coordinate such upgrades with Tribal governments and the Tribal Broadband Fund grant-making process to exploit opportunities for joint trenching, laying of conduit or construction of additional fiber optic facilities.