The NTIA awarded more than $105 million in grants from the Internet for All initiative to five Tribal entities in Arizona. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced the grants last week at an event at the Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona.
The grants will fund high-speed internet infrastructure deployment projects through the initiative’s Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program for Hopi Telecommunications, Inc., Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona, San Carlos Apache Tribal Council/Triplet Mountain Communications, Inc., and White Mountain Apache Tribe. In all, the projects will connect more than 33,300 homes with the high-speed internet connectivity necessary for learning, work, and telehealth.
The awards are the last of the more than $500 million package that Vice President Kamala Harris pledged to deliver before the end of August. In total, NTIA awarded $634,702,609.57 to 25 Tribal entities.
“This important Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program Award will empower the Pascua Yaqui Tribe to carry out critical capital projects that directly support work, education, and health monitoring on the Reservation using remote options in response to the Coronavirus public health emergency. This funding also will improve the quality of life, spur economic development activity, and create opportunities for remote employment by expanding broadband access to Tribal members in the various Pascua Yaqui communities,” said Pascua Yaqui Tribal Chairman Peter Yucupicio. “Furthermore, this infusion of funds will provide vital telecom service to the Tribe’s 69 government buildings and nine businesses; run fiber optic cable from the Tribe’s Data Center to its new housing developments, as well as to the Tortuga Ranch, Guadalupe, and Old Pascua communities; and ultimately furnish broadband to underserved Tribal members on the Reservation and outlying communities of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe.”
NTIA has now made a total of 69 awards totaling more than $726 million in funding through the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program. These awards are part of the Administration’s commitment to nation-to-nation engagement and an effort to connect everyone in America, including American Indians and Natives, with affordable, reliable, high-speed internet.
The Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program is a nearly $3 billion grant program and part of the administration’s Internet for All Initiative. The bipartisan Infrastructure Law appropriated an additional $2 billion for the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program.
Inside Towers reported that NTIA recently added $1 billion to the existing funding opportunity, meaning the administration can fund more of the projects that have already submitted applications. An additional Notice of Funding Opportunity for the remaining funds will be announced later in 2022, and NTIA will hold consultations with Tribal leaders in September to solicit their input.
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