(C) Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural This story was originally published by Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Report: Some Federal Telecom Programs Failing Tribal Nations [1] ['Kristi Eaton', 'The Daily Yonder', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width', 'Vertical-Align Bottom .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar'] Date: 2024-08-28 At the beginning of 2024, a tribal internet service provider was forwarded an email from a major Internet provider in the area. It was letting the tribe know that the company had received federal funding for the reservation and it would be building broadband in those locations within the year. The problem was, the tribe – which was not identified in the report – had never been consulted on the matter. If so, the internet service provider would have learned the locations were already being served by the tribe’s provider. That was just one of the major issues found in a new report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance about tribal broadband policy and practices. The report focuses on the federal Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), a program of the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC created RDOF in 2019 to create affordable broadband access in unserved rural markets in U.S. states and territories. The $20 billion was to be doled out in phases. The RDOF program has faced scrutiny in the past, with some fearing the money would be wasted. In the first phase of the program, nearly $3 billion of the more than $9 billion awarded to states and territories went into default because the bidder couldn’t deliver on the promised projects. The report said bad program design and misinformation, compounded by weaknesses in existing guardrails and unproductive attitudes from non-tribal providers, caused the RDOF program to become another hurdle among many tribal nations. “This is a pretty complex program, and a lot of the times, what we were hearing were questions like, ‘How could this happen?” and “Why was this allowed?’ and ‘What does it mean for us if we’re trying to build our own broadband?,’” said Jessica Auer, a tribal broadband policy analyst with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and the author of the report. “And so what the report finds is that, first of all, several elements of the program design made it particularly difficult for tribal nations to engage with the program.” Such instances set the stage for ongoing conflict between tribal nations and the providers that are seeking to build on tribal lands, Auer said in a Zoom interview. “[The program] doesn’t require any sort of understanding or engagement previous to this kind of relationship being just thrust upon both parties, and because tribal nations were not consented or were not consulted about what provider they would wish to work with and how that process should proceed,” Auer said. A representative from the FCC said they could not comment at this time. Part of the driver of the report, Auer said, was ongoing misinformation and confusion about the relevance of RDOF to new funding programs like the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, known as BEAD. “States and territories are getting ready to distribute more than $40 billion through the BEAD program,” Auer said in an email statement. “Normally, these rules against duplicative funding would mean that RDOF-funded locations would not be eligible for BEAD. But BEAD rules made special dispensation for tribal lands — saying that if RDOF (and other funding programs) recipients do not have tribal consent for locations on tribal lands, those grants will not count against them for BEAD eligibility.” In other words, she said, they should be eligible for BEAD if they don’t have internet access, regardless of what other federal funding already was awarded there. “We are heartened by the potential for this to correct some of the problems caused by RDOF,” she added. Auer said the Native Communications Task Force, which provides guidance to the FCC and is made up of representatives of tribal nations, is calling for a policy of free, prior and informed consent of tribes for projects on tribal lands. “The legacy of disingenuous outsiders taking advantage of tribes does not seem to be consigned to history,” the report concludes. Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said the approach to federal funding for broadband on tribal lands is an “all-too-familiar policy knot that’s been handed to tribes and business interests to unwind.” “We don’t begrudge the businesses outright, so long as they act in good faith to engage tribes and our priorities, but it should not be our responsibility to untie policy mistakes in the first place,” he stated in a statement to the Daily Yonder. Access to broadband within the Cherokee Nation reservation is a priority, Hoskin noted. “We’ve invested heavily into broadband infrastructure and – along with great business partners – have delivered affordable, broadband access to exceptionally remote areas,” Hoskin wrote. “For-profit businesses do not share our same goals. A municipality with a city-wide water department would have direct involvement on a federal program to support private water systems inside their city limits. Municipal and state oversight are typically built into such programs from the start. On our lands, Cherokee investments and goals should come before outside-business interests.” Related Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailyyonder.com/report-some-federal-telecom-programs-failing-tribal-nations/2024/08/28/ Published and (C) by Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0 International. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailyyonder/