Indian reservations are among the many rural areas without reliable broadband, and tribe members are fighting for better internet.
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Federal officials recently announced a $35 million grant to enable the Winnebago Tribe in Nebraska to install high-speed fiber optic cables. The money is intended to improve access to jobs, education and health care via the internet. Experts say the grant is a small part of the effort needed to connect tribal members across the country.
“Many Native American communities are located in very rural or remote areas, which makes the cost of building and operating internet infrastructure high,” Mark Buell, director of Indigenous programs for the nonprofit Connect Humanity, told Lifewire in an email interview. “As a result, many established ISPs have not invested in serving these communities because they don’t feel they provide a high enough return on investment.”
The Winnebago Tribe is receiving funds to install fiber to directly connect 602 unserved tribal households, 40 businesses, and 16 institutions. A 2020 report from the FCC found that 22.3 percent of Americans in rural areas and 27.7 percent in tribal areas lacked fixed terrestrial 25/3 Mbps broadband coverage, compared to just 1.5 percent of Americans in urban areas.
