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- By Jessica Auer, ILSR
- Opinion | Op-Ed
Guest Opinion. The future of tribal broadband has quietly but fundamentally shifted over the last few months.
A recent announcement by the Trump administration upended the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, canceling over $160 million in announced grants and leaving nothing but questions about the hundreds of millions of dollars remaining in the program.
Amidst mysterious and sudden cuts to other Federal programs for tribes, these changes to the flagship tribal broadband program have largely flown under the radar. But the cost will be profound.
The Trump administration wasted the time and money of tribal nations who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to apply to the program. The promised changes could undermine the future of connectivity in communities across Indian Country for generations to come.
The nearly $3 billion originally earmarked for broadband projects across Indian Country was less than many said was needed, but it nevertheless marked a historic investment in tribal broadband.
Frustrated after decades of digital neglect, tribal nations flooded the program with applications.
After $1.9 billion was distributed in the first round of grant awards, requests in the second round totaled almost three times the available funding.
By the time the Trump administration took office, that second round was well underway. But then, with $400 million still to distribute, and over a hundred applicants still waiting to hear, everything seemed to stop. For ten long months.
Only after two Senators issued a letter asking about the delay in November 2025 was there an update from the Trump administration’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). It was not a good one.
The program was being “reformed.” Though details were sparse, the announcement said that new rules would be implemented before any more grants went out. Eight tribes whose awards were announced but not finalized would also be cut off.
It took just over 300 words to negate the work of tribal nations across the country.
For the most part, news outlets have been curiously credulous when repeating the administration’s claims that the promised — and as of yet unknown — reforms will “cut red tape” and “improve flexibility.”
On the contrary, the coded language in the announcement combined with a “Dear Tribal Leader” letter issued three weeks later have raised alarms among some tribal staff and advocates about what the new rules will entail. It does not take much to read between the lines, and advocates fear the worst:
Talk of “maximizing tribal connectivity” and “stretching every dollar” may really mean abandoning fiber technologies — the gold-standard of Internet connectivity and the only technology that is guaranteed to last for generations — in favor of less expensive but less robust options.
When the administration emphasizes efforts to “prevent duplication,” it sounds like tribes may be cut off from funding based on bad data or barred from participating because another company has already made a worse offer without tribal input.
Efforts to “ensure consistency across NTIA’s broadband initiatives” may impose new, more flexible rules for tribal consent that fall short of the “free, prior, and informed consent” that tribal advocates have long demanded.
NTIA’s promise to “reduce red tape” is perhaps the biggest red herring of all. Usually, cutting red tape is about reducing costs. Advocates we spoke with could name no unnecessary application requirements that would come close to balancing the costs of redoing entire applications.
Finally, the administration’s question about whether “public or private initiatives have been the most effective” seems designed to undermine the legitimacy of tribally-owned networks. Leveraging this opportunity to center their own economic development and strategic planning, almost 200 tribes have taken steps to build their own Internet access as an exercise of sovereignty. New rules could stall this progress.
Imposing arbitrary cost or technology limits, closing opportunities for tribes to contest federal “knowledge” about their own communities, or watering down consent requirements - these changes would make it harder for tribes to execute their own sovereign plans for Internet infrastructure.
This month, NTIA will hold a required tribal consultation this week before announcing new funding rules. Tribal leaders can arrive armed with an understanding of the dangers ahead. They can draw on the expertise of staff who have been working to close the digital divide in their communities for years. And if NTIA refuses to listen, they can make sure it doesn’t control the narrative.
Generations of connectivity, economic opportunity, and healthcare access may depend on it.
Jessica Auer is a senior researcher with ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks Initiative with a special focus on Indigenous-led Internet access initiatives.