- Details
- By Chez Oxendine
- Economic Development
Bois Forte Band of Chippewa Indians
Award Amount: $19,800,704.00
Location: Nett Lake, Minnesota
Bois Forte Band of Chippewa Indians IT director Randy Long fields so many calls from potential new broadband customers his voice mailbox is full.
The interest in broadband connectivity has been sparked by a $19.8 million grant under the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Thanks to the grant, more than 3,000 homes will come online, connected to roughly 327 miles of new fiber in the ground around the Bois Forte Reservation in Nett Lake, Minnesota.
Residents in the area will receive direct fiber connections hovering around 1 Gbps to their homes as well as equipment to make the best use of those new connections, which will be managed by local cooperative CTC Communications.
“There's not a single individual that's not excited to see this come through,” Long said. “It's been an incredible interest throughout our region.”
CTC will oversee the operation after helping Bois Forte assess their connectivity issues and supporting the tribe with the grant application. An initial CTC review of the area — including homes surrounding Lake Vermillion, as well as the cities of Orr and Pelican Lake — revealed that 98% of homes along the 300-mile proposed line were totally unserved.
While Bois Forte will own the new fiber, CTC will manage the network for roughly five years while training new telecommunications specialists from the tribe’s population, so that the tribe can eventually take the reins on their own, Long said.
“The project will turn a vision into reality by connecting tribal members, businesses, and operations that are critical to the economic success of the region, to a world class broadband network,” Long said. “All of our families will be better connected to our schools, medical facilities, and cultural activities, as well.”
The NTIA grant has helped Bois Forte exponentially increase the scope of a project it began roughly a decade ago in partnership with the Northeastern Cooperative that brought fiber to many of their government buildings, Long said. That “backbone” lowered the initial barrier to getting new homes connected later on, with more federal funds available, Long said.
This project joins funding from the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board, a state-run fund, as well as the Shakopee Mdewakanton Community and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. Those grants totaled roughly $2.34 million— a fraction of the NTIA award — and supported building out network connectivity to 440 homes, per an Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board newsletter published in February this year.
The continued growth of broadband in the area helps address one of the tribe’s largest barriers to growth, Long said. It provides more options for tribal members seeking a connectivity provider, rather than being beholden to sometimes less than stellar service (where they receive service at all.)
“We're like most small reservations,” Long said. “We are subject to having only one telecom providing services, and when that happens, costs are elevated, there's no way of arguing the point, but you're locked in to what they provide.”
Long estimates the buildout for the outlying areas that will come online under grant dollars should take roughly “two and a half years.”
“This was definitely one of the largest grants Bois Forte has ever received,” he said. “It's probably one that will have the greatest impact on our reservation as well.”
