WASHINGTON – The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced today it has awarded grants totaling $8,394,947.57 to 17 Tribes as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP).
With funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, these new grants bring the total of the program to over $1.77 billion awarded to 183 Tribal entities. Record investments in high-speed internet deployment are a key part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.
These new grants come just days after the President announced over $40 billion through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five territories to deploy affordable, reliable high-speed Internet service to everyone in America.
This funding from President Biden’s Internet for All initiative will help reduce monthly Internet service costs, plan for future Internet infrastructure investments, upgrade network equipment, and purchase devices.
“President Biden has been clear that everyone in the country deserves the opportunities that come with a quality, affordable Internet connection, and that includes Indian country. These investments will help expand Internet access and close the digital divide on Tribal lands across the country,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.
This award is part of the Biden Administration’s commitment to nation-to-nation engagement and an effort to connect everyone in America, including Native Americans and Alaskan Natives, to affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet service.
The Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program is a nearly $3 billion grant program and part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Internet for All Initiative. The funds are made available from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law ($2 billion) and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 ($980 million). The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides a historic $65 billion in funding to connect everyone in America.
These grants are part of the TBCP’s equitable distribution process in recognition of the federal Indian trust responsibility and fiduciary obligation to Tribal governments. This process, also laid out in statute and in NTIA’s first TBCP Notice of Funding Opportunity, is intended to ensure that program funding is available to all eligible federally recognized Tribal governments who had a qualifying application. The grants listed below allow for Tribal communities to move forward in planning for future high-speed Internet infrastructure projects or promoting Internet use and adoption.
In the next few months, NTIA will release a second Notice of Funding Opportunity for an additional round of funding from the TBCP program.
This investment is part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, which is growing the American economy from the bottom up and middle-out by rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, expanding access to high-speed Internet service, creating a manufacturing and innovation boom powered by good-paying jobs that don’t require a four-year degree, and building a clean-energy economy that will combat climate change and make our communities more resilient.
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About the National Telecommunications and Information Administration
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is the Executive Branch agency that advises the President on telecommunications and information policy issues. NTIA’s programs and policymaking focus largely on expanding broadband Internet access and adoption in America, expanding the use of spectrum by all users, advancing public safety communications, and ensuring that the Internet remains an engine for innovation and economic growth.