- Details
- By Chez Oxendine
- Economic Development
Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada
Location: Reno, Nevada
Award Amount: $18,945,379.94
The 28 nations of the Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada (ITCN) secured roughly $19 million in Tribal Broadband Connectivity funding last November to build out a planned fiber and wireless network. Once online, it will bring connectivity to more than 3,000 people across 11 territories online.
Targeted communities include the Elko Band Indian Colony, Lovelock Paiute Tribe, Summit Lake Paiute Tribe, Timbisha Shoshone Tribe, Yerington Paiute Tribe, Yomba Shoshone Tribe, and Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, as well as Carson Colony, Woodfords, Stewart, and Dresslerville.
While many of the communities have basic fiber to home and last-mile wireless solutions planned, the Summit Lake tribe will rely on satellite connectivity through Elon Musk’s internet connectivity project, Starlink. In the meantime, Summit Lake will embark on a feasibility study for how best to address their longstanding connectivity challenges, per a press release from Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak.
“In the past two years, we have seen plainly and repeatedly just how important equitable access to high-speed, reliable internet and a connected device is for work, education, healthcare, and civic participation,” Sisolak said in a statement. “We cannot and will not leave any community behind as we work to close the digital divide.”
The tribes have partnered with an array of providers in each service area to ensure connectivity reaches as far as possible, as fast as possible, ITCN Executive Director Deserea Quintana said in a statement.
As has become a common refrain among tribal communities with large unserved populations, Quintana said ITCN’s member nations fell far behind in the wake of COVID-19’s demands on weak or non-existent broadband infrastructures.
“Nevada tribal members lacked access to critical emergency updates, public safety announcements, telehealth services, telecommuting solutions, and remote learning opportunities,” Quintana said. “This funding will significantly improve the quality of life for our tribal members and is long overdue.”
