Hoopa Tribe and California to Build 23 Miles of Highspeed Internet Infrastructure on Tribal Land

The Hoopa Tribe in Northern California is taking steps to enhance broadband accessibility and affordability throughout the area, setting a potential precedent for other tribes. Benefiting from a generous $65 million grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, the tribe is now collaborating with California to lay 23 miles of fiber optics on its land.

California is contributing $10.25 million to this initiative, augmenting the ongoing development, as noted by the General Manager of Hoopa Valley Public Utilities District, Linnea Jackson. This collaboration is the result of joint efforts by the California Department of Technology, the Hoopa Valley Public Utilities District (HVPUD), and the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives as part of California’s Golden State Network program.

This partnership is groundbreaking, marking the first of its kind in the nation. Jackson, speaking to Tribal Business News, expressed optimism that it might pave the way for a change in perception of Native American internet service providers by states.

“Tribes are not set up like a private, for-profit business,” Jackson said in the reporting by Tribal Business News. “So I think there’s going to have to be some changes in how they define what a provider looks like, especially in tribal lands. Hopefully this agreement will be the start of many (others) between states and tribes as providers, and investing back into tribal organizations rather than these outside telecom companies.”

The alliance could have an impact on state-tribal ties in other areas, especially with the NTIA’s Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, which was launched last summer. All 50 states received $42.5 billion as part of that initiative, which they then divided up into smaller funds for the construction of broadband infrastructure.

Tribes have voiced reservations about receiving the BEAD funds, which may significantly close the gap in funding for broadband in Indian Country. Numerous government programs offer sporadic assistance and modest tribal set-asides, but the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) has been the largest tribe-specific initiative. According to previous Tribal Business News reporting, the campaign leveraged around $3 billion toward tribal internet, but the actual amount needed is probably closer between $10 and $11 billion.

Even the Hoopa tribe’s needs reflect this; according to Jackson, the $65 million grant received through the TBCP helps, but falls short of the amount of work required to fully digitize the reservation. Additionally, money becomes even more scarce when taking into account the type of research and resources required to transform the new infrastructure into an income source that can support itself.

“I know that that sixty-five million sounds like a lot of money, but also within the state of California, everything’s more expensive — fuel, energy, all up and down the supply chain, “ Jackson said in TBN. “It kind of blows my mind that the government’s going to invest this money, but then also not see the parallel components that are also needed for business development, sustainability, offsets and resources that are gonna be needed to make this all sustainable.”

Policy gaps coexist with financing shortfalls. For instance, Jackson said, tribal carriers don’t get the same development offsets on a comparable investment as a bigger telecommunications corporation might. She emphasized that closing those gaps through policy modifications will be equally important for turning tribal providers like the HVPUD into long-term, sustainable businesses.

Jackson also said in the TBN report, “You’ve got larger providers who are given funding to provide connectivity within a service area or census block.” Jackson continued, “When I talk about policy changes, that’s one of the changes that are going to have to happen. That money should be coming to tribal providers who are providing that service within their areas, so that we’re treating them apples to apples as we would other providers.”

According to Jackson, HVPUD is still expanding steadily but slowly. In order to oversee environmental impact studies for a future infrastructure build out off-reservation, into the nearby town of Willow Creek, the company recently received a grant from the California Public Utilities Commission.

She added that this might be another approach to achieve sustainability and solvency while also demonstrating the government-to-government link between Hoopa and California.

“The state is funding and investing in our vision, right?” Jackson said in the TBN reporting. “So that’s why we’re looking at other adjacent communities not to provide, not only to provide connectivity but to provide financial stability.”