A new Ookla study found a broad range of broadband performance in a study of 110 Tribal homelands and how they relate to the states in which they share geography.
A good example of the variety of performance: 36% of the Tribal homelands were found to have median fixed download speeds below 100 Mbps — but 19 have median fixed download speeds greater than 300 Mbps.
There are several roads to better performance, according to the report.
“Many Tribal governments are interested in having more ownership over telecom networks and are exploring different approaches, ranging from full ownership of infrastructure to partnerships with private entities such as ISPs or even creating a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) model,” wrote Ookla editorial director Sue Marek, who authored the Tribal broadband study.
Other highlights and takeaways from the study:
- Funding and partnerships are critical. For instance, the Zuni Nation, which is in New Mexico, has median fixed download speeds of 458.1 Mbps. Its partnership with the Continental Divide Electric Cooperative (CDEC) plays a key role in the high speed.
- Three Tribal Nations with the slowest median mobile download speeds share geographies with the state of Alaska. Their remote locations make them prone to poor connectivity.
- The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community recorded 5G mobile download speeds of 468.42 Mbps in the first quarter of the year. This is more than 60% faster than the median 5G mobile download speeds of Minnesota, which shares geography with the Tribal nation.
Another source of information is the Vernonburg Group’s Digital Opportunity Index. It was designed to offer a broadband industry-specific alternative to traditional environmental, social and governance (ESG) indices used in evaluating potential investments. The most important factor (45 points out of 100) aims to quantitatively assess how well broadband providers are serving rural, low-income, and Tribal areas.
The Vernonburg Group’s Digital Opportunity Index quantitatively assesses how well broadband providers are serving rural, low-income, and Tribal areas.
