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Law360 (February 8, 2021, 8:35 PM EST) -- The Commerce Department's telecom agency will consult with tribes about its plans to use $1 billion from the second stimulus bill to launch a program aimed at narrowing the digital divide in Indian Country.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration hosted the first of its consultations with tribal leaders on Friday, with two more to follow before this week is out. The sessions will help guide its plans for the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, according to the agency.
The sessions are virtual and open to any tribal leader or designee who wants to participate, with the goal "expeditiously to ensure that tribal input informs the new grant program prior to the application process."
Indian Country has long lagged behind other parts of the United States in broadband access, with the U.S. Census Bureau reporting that more than half of those living on Native lands lack access to the internet — a considerable gap, compared to the 8% of the nation that the FCC estimates currently lives in areas without broadband.
The wide gulf in connectivity has been emphasized during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced millions of people to work and attend school from home. For the roughly half of Indian Country living without internet access, this was a crushing adjustment.
Native Americans have also been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. In August, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that in 23 states, American Indians and Alaska Natives were 3.5 times more likely to have the virus than non-Hispanic whites.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 set aside $1 billion for tribal broadband, to be allocated through the NTIA-run program. The funds will go to broadband infrastructure and programs aimed at making internet access more affordable in order to promote distance learning and telehealth services and keep people on tribal lands from having their internet cut off.
The Federal Communications Commission, which has been struggling to address the digital divide across the country and on tribal lands in particular, was warned in 2018 by the Government Accountability Office that it needed better data on tribal broadband availability. They told the agency the data it had "overstated" the extent to which those living in Indian Country actually have access to the internet.
--Editing by Peter Rozovsky.
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