NTTA files paper on broadband sustainability funding on Tribal lands

On September 15, 2022, the National Tribal Telecommunications Association (NTTA) sent letters to Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, Commissioners Carr, Starks and Simington, and Chief of the Wireline Competition Bureau Trent Harkrader attaching a white paper on examining the need for ongoing broadband support on Tribal lands. According to NTTA, the paper examines the need for ongoing support to assist in eliminating the digital divide that currently exists between broadband availability on Tribal lands and the rest of the United States. It calls for a “sustainability funding” program that assists Tribes with the high cost of operating and maintaining broadband-capable networks, especially for those providers not currently assisted under existing federal high-cost support programs. The NTTA urged the FCC to consider the issues discussed in the white paper in its upcoming proceeding to determine the “reorientation” of the High Cost Program.