For Immediate Release:
May 24, 2023
News Media Contact:
NTIA, Office of Public Affairs, [email protected]
WASHINGTON – The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced today it has awarded grants totaling $4.5 million to 9 Tribes as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP).
With funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, these new grants bring the total of the program to over $1.77 billion awarded to 166 Tribal entities. Record investments in high-speed internet deployment are a key part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.
These grants from President Biden’s Internet for All initiative will help reduce monthly Internet service costs, plan for future Internet infrastructure investments, upgrade network equipment, and purchase devices.
“In today’s world, reliable Internet has become an outright necessity, whether it’s earning a living, getting an education, or obtaining live-saving health care,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “These grants show how committed President Biden is closing the digital divide and ensuring Tribal communities are connected to the Internet.”
“Tribal communities deserve access to affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet service,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information Alan Davidson. “These grants will help lower barriers to Internet access today and plan for the future high-speed Internet infrastructure projects of tomorrow.”
This award is part of the Biden Administration’s commitment to nation-to-nation engagement and an effort to connect everyone in America, including Native Americans and Alaskan Natives, to affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet service.
The Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program is a nearly $3 billion grant program and part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Internet for All Initiative. The funds are made available from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law ($2 billion) and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 ($980 million). The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides a historic $65 billion in funding to connect everyone in America.
These grants are part of the TBCP’s equitable distribution process in recognition of the federal Indian trust responsibility and fiduciary obligation to Tribal governments. This process, also laid out in statute and in NTIA’s first TBCP Notice of Funding Opportunity, is intended to ensure that program funding is available to all eligible federally recognized Tribal governments who had a qualifying application. The grants listed below allow for Tribal communities to move forward in planning for future high-speed Internet infrastructure projects or promoting Internet use and adoption.
What They're Saying
A diverse group of stakeholders have offered their support for these grants. Click below to read their statements.
In the next few months, NTIA will release a second Notice of Funding Opportunity for an additional round of funding from the TBCP program.
This investment is part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, which is growing the American economy from the bottom up and middle-out – from rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, to expanding access to high-speed Internet service, to creating a manufacturing and innovation boom powered by good-paying jobs that don’t require a four-year degree, to building a clean-energy economy that will combat climate change and make our communities more resilient.
Native Village of Chenega (a/k/a Chanega)
Applicant |
Location |
Project Type |
Funding Amount |
Project Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native Village of Chenega (a/k/a Chanega) | AK | Broadband Infrastructure Deployment |
$500,000.00 |
The Native Village of Chenega is located on a remote Alaskan island, accessible only by air or ferry. The village lacks access to important digital infrastructure, with no current Internet service with speed of 25/3 Mbps or greater for its residents. The goals of the proposed project are to (1) utilize existing infrastructure to bring Chenega out of their “unserved status” in terms of broadband service, (2) provide fiber to all anchor institutions, and (3) encourage broadband adoption and use by sponsoring broadband service and equipment for each household, business, and anchor institution. |
Karuk Tribe
Applicant |
Location |
Project Type |
Funding Amount |
Project Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karuk Tribe | CA | Planning, Engineering, Feasibility, and Sustainability |
$500,000.00 |
This Planning, Engineering, Feasibility, and Sustainability Studies project will assist the Tribe to complete required planning activities necessary to prepare to install high-speed reliable broadband Internet service. |
Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation
Applicant |
Location |
Project Type |
Funding Amount |
Project Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation | CA | Planning, Engineering, Feasibility, and Sustainability |
$500,000.00 |
This Planning, Engineering, Feasibility, and Sustainability Studies project will complete environmental, engineering, and planning designs needed to implement high-speed reliable Internet service for unserved Tribal households, unserved Tribal businesses, and unserved Tribal community anchor institutions. |
Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake
Applicant |
Location |
Project Type |
Funding Amount |
Project Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake | CA | Broadband Infrastructure Deployment Planning, Engineering, Feasibility, and Sustainability |
$500,000.00 |
With NTIA funding, the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake will plan for the construction of a fiber middle mile network to serve their wireless point of presence. The Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake will plan and construct a wireless last mile network serving 48 unserved Tribal households in the proposed service area with 100 Mbps/20 Mbps broadband services and a latency below 100 ms by completing all environmental, workforce development, and sustainability plans. |
Santee Sioux Nation
Applicant |
Location |
Project Type |
Funding Amount |
Project Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santee Sioux Nation | NE | Broadband Infrastructure Deployment |
$500,000.00 |
This Broadband Infrastructure Deployment project will deploy a portion of the 40 2.5 GHz channels for 25/3 Wireless Internet Service to provide Telehealth, Distance Learning, and other commercial LTE solutions and wireless services to the Tribal members living on Tribal land in Knox County. |
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
Applicant |
Location |
Project Type |
Funding Amount |
Project Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians | NC | Broadband Infrastructure Deployment |
$500,000.00 |
This Broadband Infrastructure Deployment project will support initial phases of a significant broadband initiative of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (ECBI) by funding project management; land; structures; rights-of-way; appraisals; and project inspection fees. |
Fort Sill Apache Tribe
Applicant |
Location |
Project Type |
Funding Amount |
Project Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Sill Apache Tribe | OK | Broadband Infrastructure Deployment |
$500,000.00 |
This Broadband Infrastructure Deployment project will deploy a wireless broadband solution composed of 2 initial access points, providing public access Wi-Fi at community anchor institutions and a public market. This network will serve as the backbone for future infrastructure projects that will establish last mile connections to Native American households. |
Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon
Applicant |
Location |
Project Type |
Funding Amount |
Project Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon | OR | Broadband Infrastructure Deployment |
$500,000.00 |
This Broadband Infrastructure Deployment project proposes to construct a fixed wireless network connecting 200 unserved Native American households to qualifying service of 100/20 Mbps. |
Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas
Applicant |
Location |
Project Type |
Funding Amount |
Project Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas | TX | Broadband Infrastructure Deployment |
$500,000.00 |
This Broadband Infrastructure Deployment project aims to replace end of life and/or damaged fiber strands within an existing broadband network fiber ring that will support educational, healthcare, and economic activities while closing the digital divide that exists on Tribal lands. |
###
About the National Telecommunications and Information Administration
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is the Executive Branch agency that advises the President on telecommunications and information policy issues. NTIA’s programs and policymaking focus largely on expanding broadband Internet access and adoption in America, expanding the use of spectrum by all users, advancing public safety communications, and ensuring that the Internet remains an engine for innovation and economic growth.