- Details
- By Chez Oxendine
- Economic Development
Shinnecock Nation
Southampton, New York
Award Amount: $8,197,449.36
Project Summary: The Broadband Infrastructure Deployment project proposes to install fiber directly connecting 301 unserved Native American households and 60 near-territory households, government buildings, and anchor institutions providing 536 Native American-enrolled members with broadband at a base level of 50/10 Mbps and a top level of 1000/1000 Mbps services.
Update: The Shinnecock Nation has launched construction on a set of cell towers and fiber connections aimed at bringing rural members of its community online.
The project, when completed, will connect 536 Shinnecock tribal members — more than half of the Southampton reservation’s population — who are currently unserved or underserved. That percentage mirrors the 54% of Indian Country citizens estimated to be unserved or underserved, per prior Tribal Business News reporting.
The project will benefit members of the Shinnecock Nation, as well as surrounding communities thanks to the use of fixed wireless cell towers, which project a wireless signal off of a fiber connection. The stronger signal created by a direct fiber connection to each tower will enable better wireless connectivity throughout the area.
The project will also bring a “level of jobs and training” to the tribe that will help members compete in an increasingly digital world, Shinnecock Vice Chairman Randy King said.
“It will greatly enhance the lives and the experiences of the Shinnecock Indian Nation,” King said. “We’re looking forward to getting this ready and out there for people to use.”
The tribe’s goal is to have the project fully operational by 2024.
