Washington, D.C. — Today, Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper welcomed $43.7 million from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for the Southern Ute Indian Ute Tribe to deploy high-speed internet to nearly 1,800 Native American households, along with 16 community institutions, and 14 businesses. The funding comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which expanded funding for NTIA’s Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) and included $65 billion to connect every household to high-speed, affordable broadband.
“Tribal communities too often find themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide,” said Bennet. “With this funding, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe can bring their families, farms, businesses, and schools online, help communities within the reservation boundaries improve their broadband services, and begin to close that digital gap.”
“When we said the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law would connect every house to fast, affordable internet, we meant every house,” said Hickenlooper. “Tribes have waited too long for connectivity. That changes today.”
“The Southern Ute Tribal Council made the deployment of affordable, high-quality, high-speed broadband internet on the Reservation a top priority. The Southern Ute Indian Tribe is honored to be awarded this funding and with this grant we can now focus on making this important goal a reality and truly bridge the digital divide that exists within our Tribal Lands. The money that we will receive from this award will go to connecting our Tribal Members and other Native Americans living within our Reservation. It will also set the stage to enable improved access for non-native residents, schools, municipalities, and businesses that will benefit from the deployment of our new broadband infrastructure,” said Southern Ute Indian Tribe Chairman Melvin J. Baker.
Bennet has long advocated for expanded internet access for rural and tribal communities. In June 2021, he introduced the bipartisan Broadband Reform and Investment to Drive Growth in the Economy (BRIDGE) Act, which would have provided $40 billion in flexible funding to states, including $2 billion to Tribal governments, to promote broadband access, speed, and affordability. The BRIDGE Act was later incorporated into the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which is now making the largest investment in U.S. history to deploy affordable, high-speed Internet across Colorado and the country.
The NTIA grant announcement is part of nearly $1.35 billion awarded to 94 Tribal entities across the country as part of the TBCP. The grant to the Southern Ute Indian Tribe will help install fiber directly connecting 1798 unserved Native American households, 16 anchor institutions, and 14 businesses with service of at least 250 Mbps of symmetrical download and upload speeds.