The Importance of Tribal Broadband

By Valerie Vande Panne March 28, 2021, partial re-post from Native News Online

Tribal networks

At the Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho, Danae Wilson lives and works on the reservation. After leaving for a time, she came back in 2000 with the purpose of bringing back better connectivity to the tribe.

Today, there are four telecommunications companies on the reservation, and none overlap. That manifests in various issues of disconnection among the people. For example, calling from one end of the rez to the other is considered a long distance call. T-Mobile doesn’t work at all, unless it roams on AT&T’s network — which will work on one part of the reservation, and not on another. There is no continuous cell service across the rez. 

In an effort to fix the community’s longstanding problem, Nez Perce obtained federal grants to build broadband infrastructure. 

The tribe’s network was originally built as a utility for the tribal government. With more bandwidth came the opportunity to sell it to those in their connectivity zones. What started with easier-to-deploy fixed wireless options has turned into expanding and upgrading the community with fiber, and working to ensure all members have access. 

“What we’re doing now is fixed wireless and fiber services in more populous communities. We want everyone to have the option to connect to fiber, or out in the country, fixed wireless,” Wilson, who works with the tribe’s Department of Technology Services, tells Native News Online, noting they try to be competitive in options they provide to tribal members and customers outside the reservation.

Nez Perce Networks now serves tribal and non-tribal residents, on and off-Rez in the rural area, and they offer as many choices as possible. They also lease fiber to other private entities. 

“We make a major effort to make sure we are self-sustaining,” Wilson says. “Any funds that are generated go back into the infrastructure, and we constantly look for ways to expand.”

Danae Wilson