Tribal

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of broadband internet connectivity became glaringly obvious for many people. As offices, schools, and businesses closed and stayed shuttered for weeks and in some cases months, many people worked or learned remotely – and continue to do so. Now is a critical time to address the issue of community broadband deployment in New York – and at the same time, enable the transition to clean energy.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded $500,000 to the Passamaquoddy at Pleasant Point as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP).  With funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), this grant from the Internet for All initiative will support affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet access for 243 Passamaquoddy Tribal households and community anchor institutions, providing qualifying high-speed Internet service for 60 months.

In response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, the Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau has waived certain Lifeline program rules in thirteen previous Orders to provide relief for low-income households. The Bureau finds good cause exists to continue to waive the Lifeline recertification and re-verification requirements for those Lifeline subscribers residing on Tribal lands through April 30, 2023.

Here’s what the Federal Communications Commission will consider at our February open meeting.

The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe recently was awarded an $18.7 million broadband grant courtesy of the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA.) The grant comes from  NTIA’s Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program. Leech Lake was one of only two Tribes to be a recipient of the program’s new grants, totaling more than $36 million.

This article compares funding and other broadband policies for rural and Indigenous regions in Canada and in the United States, concluding with lessons from Canadian and US policy and regulatory experiences that could be relevant for broadband policy development in other countries with rural and Indigenous regions. There are many similarities in regulations and policies in the US and Canada concerning Indigenous and rural broadband. Both have several government funding programs to upgrade or extend rural broadband, including to Indigenous/Tribal communities.

This summer, the mountains moved in Hoopa Valley (CA). As a wildfire burned through trees and vegetation, a thunderstorm dropped two inches of rain in one day. Meanwhile, online, residents were clamoring to Facebook to learn what had happened. Others started to email Frank, who serves as a youth coordinator with Save California Salmon and Miss Na:tini-we’, a cultural and political ambassador for the Hoopa Valley Tribe.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded nine grants as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP). These new grants, totaling more than $40.3 million, bring the total of the program to nearly $1.7 billion awarded to 130 Tribal entities.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel will visit Isleta and Laguna Pueblos in northern New Mexico and meet with Tribal library representatives and Tribal leaders from several Pueblos and Navajo Nation, as part of agency efforts to ensure everyone, everywhere has the internet connections they need.

The Maine Connectivity Authority (MCA) commits 26 awards totaling more than $4 million in funding and support to community, regional and tribal organizations through the Regional & Tribal Broadband Partners and Get Ready Community Support programs. These initiatives will support community-driven broadband solutions that ensure universal connectivity, strengthen and grow the number of partners thinking about digital equity and inclusion, and create increased alignment and coordination between communities, regions, and the state.