So far, 292 applications received through the FCC’s Rural Tribal Priority Window have been granted which has paved the way for new wireless services including wireless broadband for underserved rural, tribal communities.
The FCC says that 99 applications have now been granted in Alaska.
“Connecting Alaskan Native communities to broadband services is vitally important. Too many lack the connectivity needed to take advantage of today’s health, education, communications, and business online resources. Today’s announcement continues our progress in leveraging 2.5 GHz band spectrum to increase Tribal connectivity,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.
“From the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program’s additional support for Tribal households to our new effort to amend E-Rate rules to support broadband for Tribal libraries, we are using every option available to us to make a difference for Tribal communities.”
The licenses granted provide for use of up to 117.5 MHz of 2.5 GHz band spectrum that tribes can use to connect their rural communities to wireless broadband and other services.
Akiak in southwestern Alaska was also recently confirmed as the first community to receive a OneWeb satellite terminal for broadband.
The Akiak Native Community has worked with Pacific Dataport and Microcom to install the first OneWeb low Earth orbit (LEO) user terminal in the state.
