‘Unmet needs’ persist in Tribal broadband despite progress, report finds

Late last year, the federal government took what it said were two significant steps towards reducing the persistent digital divide on Tribal lands.

In November, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced it was working on various “reforms” to streamline the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program and other programs ahead of a new grant funding opportunity this spring, which was estimated to be worth at least $500 million. The following month, NTIA awarded $6.5 million in grant funding under the TBCP to nine applicants ahead of consultations with Tribal leaders as it prepared to restructure various broadband programs.

But a recent report found that while those efforts and others might offer some encouragement that Tribal lands, a lot of work lies ahead if the digital divide is to truly be closed there. Researchers at the nonprofit Urban Institute said communities still have “unmet needs” when it comes to connectivity, and the complex federal grant process — plus the time and money it takes to get broadband projects built — are just some of the barriers they still face.

“We know that Tribal nations are doing a lot of this difficult work and grappling with all of these decisions and challenges and building out robust infrastructure in their communities already,” said Tomi Rajninger, a research analyst in the Housing and Communities Division at the Urban Institute and a report co-author. “And we know that in the midst of uncertain federal funding and still unmet needs, especially with regards to the maintenance and ongoing operations costs of these networks, it's going to be even harder going forward.”

The TBCP, funded by the 2021 infrastructure law, set aside an unprecedented $3 billion to invest in Tribal broadband, which traditionally has been left behind by internet service providers and governments. The Government Accountability Office has spent years calling for better data and a national strategy to boost connectivity on Tribal lands to little avail, while coverage maps have been derided as not reflecting the on-the-ground reality.

But even as more money has been made available for broadband projects on reservations and other Tribal areas, the Urban Institute said they still struggle with a lack of knowledge and expertise on how to navigate the sometimes-complex federal grant process. But the report’s authors said some Tribal governments have “built out muscle” to apply for broadband grants as they can build on successful awards in other areas, so there is room for optimism.

Making things more challenging, however, are the often-complex ownership structures around Tribal land, where some stretches might be held in trust by the federal government, while nearby plots might be privately owned or controlled by the U.S. Forest Service. Getting a successful grant application under those circumstances would be challenging for anyone, the report notes.

“These processes can be difficult for anyone applying; they're just pretty onerous,” said Amanda Hermans, a research associate in the Urban Institute’s Housing and Communities Division and a report co-author. “We heard from folks that you really need to have a professional federal grant writer on staff or on contract to get through these processes. There's a lot of quirks to them, and the applications require certain processes that you may just not know intuitively, unless you've been through it before.”

And even if a Tribe successfully lands a grant to build out broadband, getting the infrastructure installed and then maintained presents challenges of its own. That has prompted some Tribes to look to manage the projects and networks themselves, the report found, and assert their “digital sovereignty,” where Tribes manage their own networks, infrastructure and data and control any of its use. Hermans said it is a “more prominent and growing movement across Indian Country.”

“It stems from a history of being taken advantage of, and historic disinvestment in these areas, distrust of government, distrust of neighbors, because of unfortunate historic circumstances, but it also gives these communities more power to control their own resources,” she said. “Economically, if they are able to stand up an ISP and use the revenues from that to further serve their communities in other ways that's really important and impactful, and can be huge.”

The report called on Tribes to be flexible when applying for grant funding and have a plan in place to ensure broadband projects’ long-term viability, while also investing in areas like workforce development to expand their technical capabilities. The Urban Institute also urged the federal government to offer more technical assistance during the grantmaking process, as well as waiving certain requirements or funding long-term maintenance as well as construction. Philanthropic organizations can also play a role, the report says, especially as more federal funds may be uncertain in the future.

“We also heard a lot of uncertainty and concern about the changing federal funding priorities,” Rajninger said. “TBCP was unprecedented, and the infrastructure law did do a lot of broadband funding in addition for non-native communities in a lot of rural areas, but there's not any clear sense if that funding will ever come in the same quantity again, and in this way.”