Tribal communities were excited to take a big step forward this year in broadband access, but a new decision by the FCC has put that progress in doubt for many.
In February, the Federal Communications Commission for the first time opened a special Rural Tribal Priority Window for 2.5 GHz spectrum access. The window gave tribal governments time to apply for a license similar to what big commercial telecom companies like Spectrum use for internet, giving tribal governments the capability to set up a community network that would essentially operate as their own internet service. The access is a boon for areas that internet providers have written off as too remote to be profitable.
But last week, the agency announced the program’s new end date: Sept. 2. That is months earlier than advocates said many tribal governments are able to respond, given that their attention is currently focused on the pandemic response. Now, representatives from the National Congress of American Indians and other organizations are saying the FCC has given favorable treatment to large corporations while underestimating or ignoring the needs of tribal governments.
“It’s extremely important because in today’s world, even more so now during the pandemic, it’s a virtual world,” said Kevin Allis, CEO of the National Congress of American Indians. “If we can’t have access to the broadband, can’t get access to the internet, (then) finding ways to communicate is extremely difficult.”
In a statement provided to The Durango Herald, Southern Ute Indian Tribe spokeswoman Lindsay Box said the tribal government was able to apply for a license before the deadline had passed.
“This spectrum will play a role in improving access to broadband services on the Reservation, helping to close the digital divide that too many tribal communities face,” Box wrote.
Spectrum access is used for something as simple as a home Wi-Fi setup in an urban area. Residents in Durango may license their internet from Spectrum and use that 2.5 GHz band to get internet on their laptop through the bedroom and hallway door because the signal can make it through those surfaces, as opposed to a quicker 5 GHz connection for someone in the same room as their router. The 2.5 GHz band can travel a good distance, making it particularly important for more spread-out communities like those found on tribal lands.
When the decision to create the Rural Tribal Priority Window was first announced, the FCC had intended for the period to last 60 days. That was far too short, advocates argued, because many of the most remote communities the decision was meant to help had no preexisting relationship with the FCC, and would need more time to consult with their communities, gain approval and amass the documentation necessary for a successful application.
The FCC’s decision will be felt most among communities least familiar with the application process that do not already have a relationship with the FCC, Allis said.
“One of the reasons also that it’s so frustrating is that this opportunity is really best served for communities with no internet access, whatsoever,” said Katie Watson Jordan, senior policy advisor at the Internet Society. “That means that we can’t reach them via email or through webpages or through calls. In a lot of cases, the primary means of reaching these communities is in person.”
Following feedback, the FCC announced it would widen that window to 180 days, with the period ending Aug. 3. Then, the pandemic hit, preventing the exact in-person outreach organizations needed to educate tribal communities and help them complete their applications.
“This is very nuanced, and very technical,” Allis said. “Tribes have not had a whole lot of experience with the FCC, and it’s a wonderful opportunity, and it’s a shame to let this wonderful opportunity end without fulfilling what both sides of this had envisioned.”
The Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, NCAI, and dozens of tribal governments all called on the FCC to allow for at least 90 more days for the window, citing the pandemic and its outsized effects on tribal communities as an unprecedented obstacle to getting an application in.
In a statement accompanied with last week’s decision, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he believed a 30-day extension was sufficient because any further extension would delay the FCC’s decision to accept applications from the more than 200 tribal governments and entities that had already applied.
But there’s no reason to believe that must be true, Jordan said. Several tribal communities have already applied for and received an emergency license to use the same spectrum during the pandemic. Jordan said the FCC could simply turn those emergency licenses into permanent ones if their owners applied, or approve applications on a rolling basis while the window was extended.
“A lot of communities feel like it’s almost a slap in the face,” Jordan said, “because the FCC is saying we completely understand that COVID is a huge problem and we want to give you an extension, but that extension is so short that all the problems we see right now are going to be the exact same.”
Unless the decision is successfully overturned and additional time is granted, the FCC will accept or reject the remaining applications it receives through Sept. 2 and put the remaining licenses up for auction for commercial bidders.
Allis notes that in April, the FCC gave broadband service providers a six-month extension before they had to begin following a rule mandating them to lay out everything they were charging consumers for, citing the pandemic as the reason. Tribal governments, meanwhile, got their pandemic extension for only 30 days.
“If you think it’s OK to extend that for Fortune 100 companies and allow them time,” Allis said, “why in the heck wouldn’t they allow tribal nations to benefit from the same kind of consideration?”
Jacob Wallace is an intern for The Durango Herald and The Journal in Cortez and a student at American University in Washington, D.C.
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