The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will unveil a new Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to support Tribal broadband access in the spring.
The goal of the new NOFO will be to reduce red tape for Tribal governments, promote flexibility, and align the NTIA’s grant opportunities to better serve Tribal connectivity, according to NTIA.
An estimated $500 million in remaining Tribal broadband funding is also expected to be made available in the spring.
Though the NTIA will continue to award equitable distribution grants, any additional infrastructure grants and use and adoption grants will “be awarded under the Trump Administration’s new rules,” the NTIA press release said.
“NTIA’s goal is simple: stretch every dollar as far as possible to achieve universal Tribal connectivity and better serve Tribal communities’ needs,” said NTIA Administrator and Assistant Secretary of Commerce Arielle Roth in a prepared statement.
“This strategic realignment of our Tribal grant programs will reduce administrative burdens, prevent duplication, and ensure consistency across NTIA’s broadband initiatives. Most importantly, it will maximize the impact of this funding, helping to connect as many Tribal households as possible.”
A recent 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.
Additional information about Tribal broadband, including funding resources, grants made, Tribal-specific coverage, and more may be found under Telecompetitor Tribal coverage.
