- Details
- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Economic Development
WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission has granted more licenses to tribes for access to unassigned 2.5 GHz wireless broadband spectrum to help close the digital divide in Indian Country.
The latest round of 22 approved applications spanned American Indian or Alaska Native groups in 10 states who applied during the “Rural Tribal Priority Window” in 2020. The approvals will allow tribes to develop their own wireless broadband networks and improve internet access in remote areas.
“Far too many Tribal communities are on the wrong side of the digital divide, and this Rural Tribal Priority Window is making a real difference in helping to bring digital opportunity to these communities,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement. “This is one of the initiatives of which I’m most proud during my time at the Commission.”
The agency solicited applications from federally recognized tribes in a process that started in February and ran until Sept. 2.
The FCC in October granted wireless broadband spectrum licenses to 154 applicants from 27 states, as Tribal Business News previously reported.
According to a statement, the FCC is still reviewing and processing applications submitted during the Rural Tribal Priority Window. More than 400 tribes submitted applications as part of the process.
The FCC is granting the 2.5 GHz band spectrum licenses, which typically had been reserved for educational institutions, to the tribes free of charge as part of the process.
“We continue to make significant progress in putting this prime mid-band spectrum into the hands of Tribes so they can connect their communities to business, health care, and educational resources online,” Pai stated.
The latest round of license recipients were:
- Chuathbaluk (Alaska)
- Kasigluk Traditional Elders Council (Alaska)
- Native Village of Tuntutuliak (Alaska)
- Village of Chefornak (Alaska)
- Campo Band of Mission Indians (California)
- Chemehuevi Indian Tribe (California)
- Lone Pine Paiute Shoshone Reservation (California)
- Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation (California)
- Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida
- Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians (Michigan)
- Bois Forte Band of Chippewa (Minnesota)
- Lower Sioux Indian Community General Council (Minnesota)
- Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe (Minnesota)
- Spirit Lake Nation (North Dakota)
- Pueblo of Isleta (New Mexico)
- Duckwater Shoshone (Nevada)
- Walker River Paiute Tribe (Nevada)
- Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians (Oregon)
- Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation (Washington)
- Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe (Washington)
- Quileute Tribe of the Quileute Reservation (Washington)
- Squaxin Island Tribe (Washington)
