Telecommunications: Challenges to Assessing and Improving Telecommunications For Native Americans on Tribal Lands
Published: 2006-01-11T00:00:00

Fast Facts:

Highlights:
section_title: Why GAO Did This Study
paragraphs: An important goal of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, is to ensure access to telecommunications services for all Americans. The Federal Communications Commission has made efforts to improve the historically low subscribership rates of Native Americans on tribal lands. In addition, Congress is considering legislation to establish a grant program to help tribes improve telecommunications services on their lands. This report discusses 1) the status of telecommunications subscribership for Native Americans living on tribal lands; 2) federal programs available for improving telecommunications on these lands; 3) barriers to improvements; and 4) how some tribes are addressing these barriers.
section_title: What GAO Found
paragraphs: Based on the 2000 decennial census, the telephone subscribership rate for Native American households on tribal lands was substantially below the national level of about 98 percent. Specifically, about 69 percent of Native American households on tribal lands in the lower 48 states and about 87 percent in Alaska Native villages had telephone service. While this data indicates some progress since 1990, changes since 2000 are not known. The U.S. Census Bureau is implementing a new survey that will provide annual telephone subscribership rates, though the results for all tribal lands will not be available until 2010. The status of Internet subscribership on tribal lands is unknown because no one collects this data at the tribal level. Without current subscribership data, it is difficult to assess progress or the impact of federal programs to improve telecommunications on tribal lands. The Rural Utilities Service and the FCC have several general programs to improve telecommunications in rural areas and make service affordable for low-income groups, which would include tribal lands. In addition, FCC created some programs targeted to tribal lands, including programs to provide discounts on the cost of telephone service to residents of tribal lands and financial incentives to encourage wireless providers to serve tribal lands. However, one of FCC's universal service fund programs that supports telecommunications services at libraries has legislatively based eligibility rules that preclude tribal libraries in at least two states from being eligible for this funding. FCC officials told GAO that it is unable to modify these eligibility rules because they are contained in statute and thus modifications would require legislative action by Congress. The barriers to improving telecommunications on tribal lands most often cited by tribal officials, service providers, and others GAO spoke with were the rural, rugged terrain of tribal lands and tribes' limited financial resources. These barriers increase the costs of deploying infrastructure and limit the ability of service providers to recover their costs, which can reduce providers' interest in investing in providing or improving service. Other barriers include the shortage of technically trained tribal members and providers' difficulty in obtaining rights of way to deploy their infrastructure on tribal lands. GAO found that to address the barriers of rural, rugged terrain and limited financial resources that can reduce providers' interest in investing on tribal lands, several tribes are moving toward owning or developing their own telecommunications systems, using federal grants, loans, or other assistance, and private-sector partnerships. Some are also focusing on wireless technologies, which can be less expensive to deploy over rural, rugged terrain. Two tribes are bringing in wireless carriers to compete with the wireline carrier on price and service. In addition, some tribes have developed ways to address the need for technical training, and one has worked to expedite the tribal decision-making process regarding rights-of-way approvals.

section_title: Letter
paragraphs: The telephone subscribership rate for Native Americans living on tribal  lands has historically lagged behind the overall national rate. This is part of  a broader infrastructure problem on tribal lands, where conditions can  make economic development difficult and residents may lack such basics  as water and sewer systems. Data from the 2000 decennial census show  that the approximately 588,000 Native Americans living on federal tribal  lands were among the most economically distressed groups in the United  States, with about 37 percent of Native Americans living below the federal  poverty level.
An important goal of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended  (Communications Act) is to preserve and advance universal service. In the  Communications Act, Congress directs the Federal Communications  Commission (FCC) to base policies for the preservation and advancement  of universal service on principles that include, among other things, making  quality services available at reasonable rates and providing access to  advanced services throughout the nation. Specifically mentioned in this  regard are low-income consumers and those in rural, insular, and high-cost  areas—categories that include many Native Americans living on tribal  lands in rural or remote locations. To help develop and improve  telecommunications service on tribal lands, Congress is considering  authorizing a grant program specifically for federally recognized tribes. To  assist Congress, you requested that we examine several aspects of  telecommunications on tribal lands. Accordingly, we reviewed 1) the status  of telecommunications subscribership (telephone and Internet) for Native  Americans on tribal lands in the lower 48 states and Alaska; 2) federal  programs available for improving telecommunications on tribal lands; 3)  the barriers that exist to improving telecommunications on tribal lands;  and 4) how some tribes are addressing these barriers.
To determine the status of telecommunications subscribership for Native  Americans on tribal lands in the lower 48 states and Alaska (there are no  federally recognized tribal lands in Hawaii), we analyzed 2000 decennial  census data for federally recognized reservations and trust lands. We did  not include Oklahoma Tribal Statistical Areas (OTSAs) in our analysis. We  also interviewed officials representing individual tribes, tribal  organizations, telecommunications providers, industry organizations, and  federal agencies. To determine the availability of federal programs that  provide financial and technical assistance to improve telecommunications  services on tribal lands, we interviewed officials from several federal  agencies and obtained information on federal programs. To determine the  barriers that exist to improving telecommunications services on tribal  lands and how some tribes have addressed these barriers, we interviewed  tribal officials, tribal organizations, service providers, equipment  manufacturers, federal agencies, and others. We reviewed previous studies  that discussed telecommunications services on tribal lands. Additionally,  we conducted interviews with officials of 26 tribes and 12 Alaska regional  native nonprofit organizations, chosen on the basis of demographic and  other information, such as actions being taken to improve  telecommunications on their land. For our site visits, we then selected 6  tribes that had taken some action to overcome one or more of the most  frequently cited barriers to improving telecommunications. During the  visits, we interviewed tribal officials and observed the tribes’  telecommunications systems, ongoing improvement efforts, and  challenges. While the interviews and site visits cannot be projected to all  tribes, the information gathered allows us to describe a range of barriers  and how tribes are addressing these barriers. For more detailed  information on how tribes were chosen for both the interviews and the site  visits, and other aspects of our review, see appendix I.
We conducted our audit work from August 2004 through December 2005 in  Washington, D.C., and at the Coeur D'Alene Tribe of the Coeur D'Alene  Reservation, Idaho; Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation,  Washington; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina; Oglala  Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota; Mescalero  Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation, New Mexico; and Navajo  Nation in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. We assessed the reliability of  Census 2000 data and found the data sufficiently reliable for the types of  analyses that we conducted in this report. Our work was conducted in  accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: According to the 2000 Census, approximately 588,000 Native Americans  were residing on tribal lands. Tribal lands vary dramatically in size,  demographics, and location. They range in size from the Navajo Nation,  which consists of about 24,000 square miles, to some tribal land areas in  California comprising less than 1 square mile (see figure 1). Over 176,000  Native Americans live on the Navajo reservation, while other tribal lands  have fewer than 50 Native residents. The population on a majority of tribal  lands is predominantly Native American, but some tribal lands have a  significant percentage of nonNative Americans. In addition, while most  tribal lands are located in rural or remote locations, some are located near  metropolitan areas. Tribes are unique in being sovereign governments  within the United States. The federal government has recognized the  sovereign status of tribes since the founding of the United States. The U.S.  Constitution, treaties, and other federal government actions have  established tribal sovereignty. To help manage tribal affairs, tribes have  formed governments or subsidiaries of tribal governments that include  schools, housing, health, and other types of corporations. In addition, the  Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in the Department of the Interior has a  fiduciary responsibility to tribes and assumes some management  responsibility for all land held in trust for the benefit of the individual  Native American or tribe.
In Alaska, federal law directed the establishment of 12 for profit regional  corporations, 1 for each geographic region comprised of Natives having a  common heritage and sharing common interests, and over 200 native  villages. These corporations have become the vehicle for distributing land  and monetary benefits to Alaska Natives to provide a fair and just  settlement of aboriginal land claims in Alaska. The Native villages are  entities within the state that are recognized by BIA to receive services from  the federal government. The 12 regional corporations have corresponding  nonprofit arms that provide social services to the villages.
Native American tribes are among the most economically distressed groups  in the United States. According to the 2000 Census, about 37 percent of  Native American households have incomes below the federal poverty  level—more than double the rate for the U.S. population as a whole.  Residents of tribal lands often lack basic infrastructure, such as water and  sewer systems, and telecommunications services. According to tribal  officials and government agencies, conditions on tribal lands have made  successful economic development more difficult than in other parts of the  country. A study done for the federal government, based on research  gathered in 1999, found that the high cost and small markets associated  with investment in tribal lands deter business investment.
The federal government has long acknowledged the difficulties of  providing basic services, such as electricity and telephone service, to rural  areas of the country. The concept of universal telephone service has its  origins in Section 1 of the Communications Act, which states that the  Federal Communications Commission was created “for the purpose of  regulating interstate and foreign commerce in communication by wire and  radio so as to make available, so far as possible, to all the people of the  United States a rapid, efficient, nationwide, and worldwide wire and radio  communication service with adequate facilities at reasonable charges….”  The goal of universal service is to ensure that all U.S. residents have access  to quality telephone service regardless of their household income or  geographic location. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 reaffirmed the  commitment to universal service and expanded it to include not just  traditional telephone service but access to advanced telecommunications  services (such as high-speed Internet access) for schools, libraries, and  rural health care providers.
A 1995 report by the Census Bureau based on 1990 census data noted that  about 47 percent of Native American households on tribal lands had  telephone service, compared to about 95 percent of households  nationally. In June 2000, the FCC Chairman noted that the Commission’s  universal service policies “had yielded a remarkable rate of telephone  subscribership, above 90 percent for the nation as a whole.” However, he  also noted that telephone subscribership among the rural poor was roughly  20 percent lower than the rest of the nation, while Native Americans living  on tribal lands were only half as likely as other Americans to subscribe to  telephone service. In August 2000, FCC identified certain categories of  Americans, including Native Americans, who were having difficulty  obtaining access to advanced telecommunications services.
section_title: Tribal Telephone Subscribership Rate Is Substantially Below the National Level and Internet Subscribership Rate Is Unknown
paragraphs: According to data from the 2000 decennial census, the rate of telephone  subscribership for Native American households on tribal lands was  substantially below the national rate of 97.6 percent. While this data  indicates some progress since 1990, changes since then are unknown due  to a lack of more current data. Additionally, the rate of Internet  subscribership is unknown because no federal survey has been designed to  capture this information for tribal lands.
subsections: section_title: Telephone Subscribership for Native American Households on Most Tribal Lands Was Substantially Below the National Rate in 2000
paragraphs: According to the 2000 decennial census, the telephone subscribership rate  for Native American households on tribal lands in the lower 48 states was  68.6 percent, while for Alaska Native Villages it was 87 percent—both  substantially below the national rate of 97.6 percent. Figure 2 shows the  number of tribal lands within various percentile ranges of telephone  subscribership for Native American households, based on our analysis of  2000 decennial census data. We have separated Alaska Native tribal lands  from the tribal lands in the lower 48 states because telecommunications  infrastructure in Alaska differs from that of the lower 48 states due to  Alaska’s weather and terrain. The data is shown for 198 tribal lands in the  lower 48 states and 131 tribal lands in Alaska. Tribal lands with fewer than  100 people are not included in the data available from the Census Bureau.  In these areas, there must be at least 100 people in a specific group,  including American Indian and Alaska Native tribal groupings, before data  will be shown.
As figure 2 shows, there was considerable variation among tribes regarding  telephone subscribership rates, with some comparable or higher than the  national rate but most below it—and many substantially so. We found, for  example, that the Kalispel tribal land in Washington had a telephone  subscribership rate of 100 percent, while the tribal lands of the Kickapoo  Traditional Tribe of Texas had a rate of 34 percent. To get a better  understanding of telephone subscribership rates by individual tribe and  population size, we reviewed data for the 25 tribal lands with the highest  number of Native American households. These 25 tribal lands represent  about 65 percent of all Native American households, as shown in Census  2000 data. The lands vary greatly in the number of Native American  households located on them (from about 46,000 for the Navajo Nation to  about 1,100 for Fort Berthold) and in geographic size, with the Navajo  Nation’s lands comprising about 24,000 square miles and the Eastern Band  of Cherokee’s land comprising about 83 square miles.
As shown in figure 3, the Native American household telephone  subscribership rates for these most populous tribal lands were all below  the national rate of 97.6 percent. Nine of the 25 tribal lands, representing  about 44 percent of Native American households on tribal lands in the  lower 48 states, had telephone subscribership rates at a level below 78  percent—which is about what the national rate was over 40 years ago when  the 1960 decennial census was taken. The subscribership rate for the most  populous tribal land—the Navajo—was only 38 percent.
Because the 2000 decennial census is the most current data available on  telephone subscribership rates on tribal lands, it is not known whether  these rates have changed between 2000 and the present. To help improve  the accuracy of the next decennial census and collect demographic,  socioeconomic and housing data in a more timely way, the Census Bureau  developed the American Community Survey (ACS), which includes a  question on telephone service. In January 2005, the Census Bureau began  sending out the ACS questionnaire to households. Annual results will be  available for populations on all individual tribal lands by summer 2010, and  sooner for tribal lands with populations over 20,000. This schedule is based  on the time it will take to accumulate a large enough sample to produce  data for areas with populations as small as 600 people.
section_title: No Federal Data Available on Internet Subscribership Rates For Tribal Lands
paragraphs: The status of Internet subscribership on tribal lands is unknown because  no federal survey has been designed to track this information. Although the  Census Bureau and FCC currently collect some national data on Internet  subscribership, and FCC also collects some state level data, none of their  survey instruments are designed to estimate Internet subscribership on  tribal lands. In addition, officials of both agencies told us that to the best of  their knowledge, no other federal agency collects data on Internet  subscribership.
Unlike telephone subscribership data, the 2000 decennial census did not  collect information on Internet subscribership, nor is the Census Bureau  currently collecting it on the ACS. The Census Bureau does collect some  national data on Internet subscribership through the Current Population  Survey (CPS). However, this monthly survey of households conducted by  the Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics is designed primarily  to produce national and state estimates for characteristics of the labor  force. To obtain national and state estimates on Internet subscribership  rates, supplemental questions on Internet and computer use have been  added to the CPS questionnaire. According to a Department of Commerce  report, based on October 2003 CPS data, the Internet subscribership rate  for U.S. households was about 55 percent. However, Commerce  Department officials told us that the CPS sample cannot provide reliable  estimates of Internet subscribership on tribal lands because there are not  enough tribal land households in the sample to provide a reliable measure.
FCC collects data on the deployment of advanced telecommunications  capability in the United States, but this data cannot be used to determine  Internet subscribership rates for tribal lands. Pursuant to section 706 of  the Telecommunications Act of 1996, FCC is required to conduct regular  inquiries concerning the availability of advanced telecommunications  capability for all Americans. To fulfill its mandate, FCC has issued four  reports, starting in January 1999, on the availability of advanced  telecommunications capability in the United States. To obtain data for  these reports, FCC requires service providers to report the total number of  high-speed lines (or wireless channels), broken down by type of  technology, for each state. For each of the technology subtotals, providers  also report additional detail concerning the percentage of lines that are  connected to residential users and a list of the zip codes where they have  at least one customer of high-speed service. Because the providers are not  required to report the total number of residential subscribers in each zip  code to whom they provide high-speed service, and because tribal lands do  not necessarily correspond to zip codes, this data cannot be used to  determine the number of residential Internet subscribers on tribal lands.  Finally, data on the availability of “dial-up” Internet access is not provided  in these reports for any areas in the country because it is not considered an  advanced telecommunications capability.
The FCC has acknowledged that the zip code data present an elementary  view of where high-speed Internet service subscribers are located. In  particular, its data collection method does not fully describe some  segments of the population, such as Native Americans residing on tribal  lands. FCC has recognized that its section 706 data collection efforts in  rural and underserved areas need improvement to better fulfill Congress’  mandate. Without current subscribership data, it is difficult to assess  progress or the impact of federal programs to improve telecommunications  on tribal lands.
In a September 2004 letter to the Census Bureau, the FCC Chairman at that  time stated that in order to better implement section 706 of the  Telecommunications Act, FCC needs to know the rate of Internet  subscribership, and particularly, the rate of Internet subscribership in  smaller and more sparsely populated areas of the country, that would  include tribal lands. Given the limitations of the current Census Bureau and  FCC data collection efforts, FCC requested the Census Bureau add a  question to the ACS regarding Internet subscribership. The ACS is designed  to collect information for communities across the country, including small  geographic areas such as small towns, tribal lands, and rural areas.
Both FCC and Census Bureau officials told us that if a question is added to  the ACS, it would provide Internet subscribership data for the nation and  smaller geographic areas. An FCC official also noted that a comparative  survey like the ACS, one that shows the differences of Internet  subscribership between tribal lands and other geographic areas, is far more  valuable than a survey that only collects Internet subscribership data on  tribal lands. Census Bureau officials mentioned to us, however, that there  are several methodological issues related to making changes to the ACS.  Because adding questions would lengthen the ACS and could result in a  reduced response rate, the Census Bureau’s current practice is to add a  question to the ACS only if it is mandated by law. They told us that section  706 of the Telecommunications Act mandates that FCC, not the Census  Bureau, be responsible for collecting data on advanced  telecommunications. Therefore, Congress would need to pass legislation  mandating that the Census Bureau collect Internet subscribership data.  FCC officials told us that currently it is not clear whether FCC will pursue  collection of Internet subscribership data.
section_title: Native Americans Can Benefit from Several General and Tribal-Specific Federal Programs to Improve Telecommunications Services
paragraphs: The Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and FCC are  responsible for several programs designed to improve the nation’s  telecommunications infrastructure and make services affordable for all  consumers. RUS’s programs focus on rural telecommunications  development, while FCC’s universal service programs focus on providing  support for areas where the cost of providing service is high, as well as for  low-income consumers, schools, libraries, and rural health care facilities.  All of these general programs can benefit tribal lands and Native American  consumers. In addition, FCC has recognized the need to make special  efforts to improve tribal telecommunications by establishing additional  support programs specifically aimed at benefiting tribal lands and their  residents. Issues have arisen, however, over some aspects of how eligibility  for FCC’s universal service programs is determined with regard to tribal  lands.
subsections: section_title: General Programs Available to Improve Telecommunications Services for Tribes
paragraphs: Federal efforts to expand telephone service in underserved areas date back  to 1949 when the Rural Electrification Administration was authorized to  loan monies to furnish and improve the availability of telephone service in  rural areas throughout the United States. In 1994, RUS replaced the Rural  Electrification Administration. RUS programs provide support to improve  rural telecommunications infrastructure through grants, loans, and loan  guarantees. Eligible participants in the RUS grant, loan, and loan guarantee  programs include federally recognized tribes. The RUS grant, loan, and  loan guarantee programs can be used to improve telecommunications  infrastructure in rural areas, which include many of the tribal lands. Tables  1 and 2 provide a summary listing of these grant and loan programs and  eligible participants, along with recent funding levels.
FCC also has several general programs to support improved  telecommunications services. FCC’s universal service programs support  the longstanding goal of making communications services available “so far  as possible, to all the people of the United States.” The universal service  programs put in place in the 1980s focused on making telephone service  affordable for low-income consumers and areas where the cost of  providing service was high. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 extended  the scope of federal universal service support to make advanced  telecommunications services (such as high-speed Internet access)  available to eligible public and nonprofit elementary and secondary  schools, libraries, and nonprofit rural health care providers at discounted  rates. Universal service program operations are carried out by a  not-for-profit corporation, the Universal Service Administrative Company  (USAC), under FCC’s rules and oversight. Table 3 lists key FCC universal  service programs and recent funding levels that could be used to improve  service on tribal lands in areas where the cost of providing service is high;  lower the cost of service to low-income individuals; and support  telecommunications services for local schools, libraries, and rural health  care centers.
In addition to financial assistance, RUS and FCC’s Wireless  Telecommunications Bureau established the VISION program in 2004 as a  joint policy initiative to provide technical assistance to improve the  provision of wireless broadband service in rural communities. VISION is  part of a larger Rural Wireless Outreach Initiative between RUS, FCC’s  Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, and private industry, that is intended  to coordinate activities and information on financial and other assistance  regarding telecommunications opportunities for rural communities. The  program is designed to provide rural communities within the United States  and its territories with on-site regulatory, legal, engineering, and technical  assistance to identify barriers and solutions to providing wireless  broadband services to these communities. Thirteen tribal organizations  have applied for assistance from this program, though no awards had been  made as of October 2005.
The General Services Administration’s (GSA) Federal Technology Service  (FTS) 2001 contract provides telecommunications services to federal  agencies, the District of Columbia government, tribal governments, and  insular governments such as American Samoa, at discounted prices.  Several tribes, such as the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin and the  Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, have made use of the FTS 2001 contract to  improve the telecommunications infrastructure on their lands.
section_title: FCC’s Programs Targeted to Tribal Lands and Residents
paragraphs: Beginning in June 2000, FCC established additional support to improve  telecommunications infrastructure deployment and subscribership on  tribal lands. FCC took this step in recognition that Native American  communities have, on average, the lowest reported telephone  subscribership levels in the country.
subsections: section_title: Enhanced Link-Up and Lifeline Programs
paragraphs: FCC’s Enhanced Link-Up and Lifeline programs, which began in 2000,  provide additional discounts on the cost of telephone service for tribal and  nontribal residents of tribal lands who have incomes at or below 135  percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines or who participate in one of  several federal assistance programs, such as food stamps or Medicaid.  Enhanced Link-Up provides qualified participants with one-time discounts  of up to 100 dollars on installation fees. Enhanced Lifeline provides  ongoing discounts on basic local telephone service that enable some  qualified participants to pay as little as 1 dollar a month. As with FCC’s  other universal service programs, the service providers are reimbursed  from FCC’s universal service fund for the discounts they give to the  programs’ participants. Tables 4 and 5 list the number of Enhanced Link-Up  and Lifeline participants (both Native American and nonnative American  residents of tribal lands) and the amount of support distributed between  June 2000 and December 2004.
At present, service providers file quarterly data forms with USAC that are  used in reimbursing them for the discounts they give to their subscribers  through the Link-Up and Lifeline programs. This data can be broken out by  state, but not by tribal land, because the reporting form does not ask  service providers to indicate the number of participants and amount of  funding by tribal land. State-level data, however, has limited use in  measuring the performance of these programs with respect to individual  tribal lands. Nearly all the states containing tribal lands have more than one  of them, as shown earlier in figure 1, so their data is a sum total of multiple  tribal lands. Moreover, some tribal lands extend across state lines. The  Navajo Nation’s land, for instance, crosses the borders of Arizona, New  Mexico, and Utah; and the Standing Rock Sioux’s tribal land crosses the  borders of North and South Dakota. Consequently, the participation and  funding data relevant to these tribal lands (and others like them) are split  among the data of multiple states. Because FCC does not have data on  program participation and funding by individual tribal land, some basic  questions cannot be answered: what percentage of residents of particular  tribal lands are benefiting from the programs and how have the  participation rates on individual tribal lands changed over time?
At one point, FCC took steps to obtain more detailed program data. When  the Enhanced Link-Up and Lifeline programs were established in 2000, the  Commission directed one of its bureaus to revise, as necessary, the form  used by service providers for the general Link-Up and Lifeline programs  already in operation. In June 2003, FCC sought comment on changes to its  Lifeline program, including the collection of additional data, and made  revisions to the form. In December 2003, FCC received approval from the  Office of Management and Budget for the revised form, which included  requiring service providers to list the number of their Enhanced Lifeline  subscribers by individual tribal land. However, in spring 2004, some service  providers met with FCC officials to voice concerns that the collection of  such information would be difficult to implement into their billing systems,  but did not provide specific cost estimates for its implementation. In March  2005, FCC indefinitely suspended the use of the revised form due to these  concerns.
section_title: Tribal Land Bidding Credit Program
paragraphs: FCC’s Tribal Land Bidding Credit program is designed to provide incentives  for wireless providers to deploy wireless services across tribal lands. FCC  is authorized to auction radiofrequency spectrum to be used for the  provision of wireless services in the United States. Under the Tribal Land  Bidding Credit program, FCC reduces the cost of a radiofrequency  spectrum license to a winning bidder in a spectrum auction if the bidder  agrees to deploy facilities and provide telecommunications service to  qualifying tribal lands. The agreement includes constructing and operating  a wireless system that offers service to at least 75 percent of the population  of the tribal land area covered by the credit within 3 years of the grant of  the license. Tribal lands with telephone subscribership below 85 percent  are eligible for the program.
The program began in 2000, with the first credits awarded in 2003. In total,  the program has awarded credits to six licensees who have pledged to  deploy facilities and provide telecommunications services to 10 tribal  lands. Most of the credits to date have been awarded to two licensees for  providing service on three tribal lands. Table 6 lists the dollar value of tribal  land bidding credits awarded through April 2005.
At present, it is unclear what the program’s long-term impact will be in  creating a significant incentive to deploy wireless service on tribal lands.  FCC has acknowledged that the program is underutilized by service  providers, attributing this to economic and technical factors. Several  industry and tribal stakeholders expressed concerns that the program has a  limited ability to improve service on tribal lands. These stakeholders stated  that the main problem with the program is that tribal land bidding credits  deal with the least expensive cost element of providing wireless service to  tribal lands: the spectrum license. In fact, they said that spectrum to serve  tribal lands can be acquired more economically through spectrum leasing  arrangements with other licensees than through the Tribal Land Bidding  Credit program. In their view, the main barrier to deploying wireless  service on tribal lands is the high cost of network infrastructure, such as  cellular towers. During 2006, FCC will have an opportunity to begin  reviewing the actual effect of the program. By then, licensees who received  Tribal Land Bidding Credits in 2003 are supposed to have met the  requirement to cover 75 percent of the tribal land area for which their  credit was awarded.
section_title: Indian Telecommunications Initiative
paragraphs: In spring 2002, FCC established the Indian Telecommunications Initiative  (ITI) to provide assistance to improve telecommunications services on  tribal lands. The Initiative’s strategic goals are to improve tribal lands’  telephone subscribership rates, increase the telecommunications  infrastructure, and inform consumers about the financial support available  through federal programs, such as the universal service programs. ITI also  seeks to promote understanding, cooperation, and trust among tribes,  government agencies, and the telecommunications industry to address  telecommunications issues facing tribal lands.
Since its inception, ITI has organized several informational workshops to  provide tribes and tribal organizations with information about federal  telecommunications programs such as Enhanced Lifeline and Link-Up. ITI  has also used these workshops to disseminate information about FCC rules  and policies that affect the deployment of telecommunications services on  tribal lands, such as cellular tower siting procedures. FCC senior officials  and other staff also attend and participate in a variety of meetings on  telecommunications issues with tribal officials. FCC has also distributed  educational materials to tribes and tribal organizations about its universal  service programs and other issues of interest.
section_title: Some Issues Involving Tribes Have Arisen with Respect to Federal Universal Service Programs
paragraphs: The implementation of universal service programs is largely the joint  responsibility of federal and state government. However, the sovereign  status of tribes raises unique issues and concerns. Service providers, tribal  officials, and others have cited two specific areas of concern. One involves  FCC’s process to determine whether the FCC has jurisdiction to designate  service providers as eligible to receive universal funds for serving tribal  lands. A second is related to the statutory limitations of tying the eligibility  for universal service funding under the E-rate program for tribal libraries to  state Library Services and Technology Act funds.
subsections: section_title: Designation of Eligible Telecommunications Carriers
paragraphs: Some stakeholders we spoke with emphasized that deployment of services  on tribal lands, particularly by wireless carriers, might be improved if FCC  had a more timely process for determining its jurisdiction to designate a  provider wanting to serve tribal lands as an Eligible Telecommunications  Carrier (ETC). As defined by the Communications Act, service providers  must be designated as an ETC in order to participate in FCC’s universal  service programs. The Act gives the individual states the primary  responsibility for designating ETCs. Initially, the Act made no provision for  cases where a service provider might not be subject to state jurisdiction,  such as those operating on tribal lands. In 1997, Congress amended the Act  by requiring FCC to determine a service provider’s eligibility to receive  federal universal service funds in cases where a state lacks jurisdiction to  make an ETC determination. In response, FCC developed a process by  which a service provider seeking ETC status for serving a tribal land may  petition the Commission to determine whether the provider is subject to  the state commission’s jurisdiction. If the FCC finds that the state does not  have jurisdiction, FCC can make the ETC determination.
To date, FCC has received ten applications for ETC designations involving  tribal lands. Six of the applications were from tribally-owned wireline  service providers, and four were from non-tribally-owned wireless service  providers. FCC provided the tribally-owned wireline providers with ETC  status within a few months of their application. Two different non-tribally  owned wireless service providers petitioned FCC for ETC designation on  three separate tribal lands. As indicated in table 7, FCC granted one of  these three petitions in 10 months. Another was withdrawn by the provider  after more than three years with no FCC decision, while the third has been  pending at FCC for more than 3 years.
FCC has noted that determining whether a state or FCC has ETC  jurisdiction regarding a tribal land is “a legally complex and fact specific  inquiry, informed by the principles of tribal sovereignty, federal Indian law,  treaties, as well as state law.” When we asked about the long timeframes  involved with the first and third items in table 7, FCC officials explained  that they must conduct a case-specific inquiry for each application to  determine whether the Commission has the authority to make an ETC  designation. In its 2001 Western Wireless decision, FCC noted that it would  resolve the Western Wireless ETC decision in light of the guidance  provided by the Supreme Court in Montana v. United States, 450 U.S. 544  (1981). This case sets out the guiding principle that Indian tribes lack  jurisdiction to regulate nonmembers on the reservation, but it recognized  two exceptions. Applying this framework to the service agreement  between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Western Wireless, FCC granted  Western Wireless ETC status over its service to tribal members living  within the Pine Ridge reservation.
FCC has not issued any further guidance on how it will make its ETC  decisions on tribal lands. FCC officials told us that the information needed  to make a determination may change from application to application. They  said that they try to complete these designations in a timely fashion, but  applicants may not provide sufficient information, and staff normally  dedicated to these issues may need to focus on other issues facing FCC. In  2000, FCC sought public comment on the creation of a 6-month timeline for  the resolution of jurisdictional issues surrounding an ETC designation on  tribal lands. However, in 2003 FCC formally decided against creating this  timeline because determining FCC’s jurisdiction over ETC designation on  tribal lands “is a legally complex inquiry that may require additional time to  fully address.”
section_title: Tribal Libraries’ Eligibility for E-rate Funding
paragraphs: Some tribal officials we spoke with emphasized the importance of tribal  libraries as a means for members to have Internet access and expressed  concern about their difficulty in obtaining E-rate funding for their libraries.  Under current eligibility requirements, tribal libraries can apply for  universal service fund support through the E-rate program provided they  meet eligibility requirements. The Communications Act defines E-rate  eligible libraries as those eligible for assistance from a state library  administrative agency under the Library Services and Technology Act  (LSTA), which provides federal grant funds to support and develop library  services in the United States. LSTA has two types of library grants that  primarily relate to governmental entities: one for states and one for  federally recognized tribes and organizations that primarily serve and  represent Native Hawaiians.To be eligible for E-rate funds, a tribal library  must be eligible for state LSTA funds and not just tribal LSTA funds.
The eligibility criterion has practical implications for tribal libraries.  Although we did not survey all the states on this issue, officials in two  states told us that their state laws preclude tribal libraries within their  states from being eligible to receive state LSTA funds, which has the effect  of making them ineligible to receive E-rate funds. Officials in Oklahoma  said that only county and city libraries are eligible for state funding such as  LSTA monies. Tribal libraries are not county or city libraries and therefore  not eligible for Oklahoma’s state LSTA funds. One former tribal librarian in  Oklahoma told us that she did not apply for E-rate funding because the  state library administrative agency provided her with documentation  indicating that the tribe was not eligible for state LSTA funds. Montana  officials told us that their state law also has similar limitations regarding  tribal libraries’ eligibility for state LSTA funds.
The eligibility criterion also has practical implications for the E-rate  program. Libraries applying for LSTA funds must self-certify their  eligibility. As part of its integrity process, USAC requires a third party  verification of the eligibility requirement. Thus, USAC verifies a library’s  eligibility for E-rate funds by asking state library administrative agencies to  provide written certification of a library’s eligibility for state LSTA funds.  This process has prompted a number of comments from several of those  we interviewed. Some tribal and state library agency officials noted that the  current eligibility criterion infringes on tribal sovereignty by involving the  state in tribal library E-rate funding. One state librarian, for example,  expressed discomfort at being put in the position of acting on behalf of a  sovereign tribe and expressed the strong belief that eligibility for E-rate  funding should be a matter between the tribe and USAC, without  involvement by state government agencies. USAC officials told us that they  have received some E-rate applications from tribal libraries. In those  cases, a USAC board member successfully worked with the states in  question to obtain the certifications. However, USAC officials and the  USAC board member emphasized the time-consuming nature of these  resolution efforts.
In fall 2002, FCC, USAC, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services  (IMLS) officials met to discuss possible remedies for this situation. These  discussions produced a consensus that a change to the E-rate eligibility  requirement for libraries defined in the Communications Act could  facilitate tribal libraries’ eligibility for E-rate funding. These discussions  focused on a modification to the Act that would allow tribal libraries  eligible for funding from either a state library administrative agency or  tribal government under the LSTA to be eligible for funding under the  E-rate program. FCC officials told us that modifications to the Act would  require legislative action by the Congress, because such modifications  cannot be made by FCC through a Commission order or administrative  proceeding.
section_title: Multiple Barriers Exist to Improving Telecommunications on Tribal Lands
paragraphs: Tribal and government officials, Native American groups, service  providers, and other entities we interviewed cited several barriers to  improving telecommunications on tribal lands. The two barriers most often  cited by officials of the tribes and Alaska regional native non-profit  organizations we interviewed were the rural location and rugged terrain of  tribal lands and tribes’ limited financial resources. The third most often  cited barrier was a lack of technically trained tribal members to plan and  implement improvements in telecommunications. A fourth barrier cited by  tribal officials and other stakeholders is the complex and costly process of  obtaining rights-of-way for deploying telecommunications infrastructure  on tribal lands.
subsections: section_title: Rural Location and Limited Financial Resources Were the Most Often Cited Barriers
paragraphs: The rural location and rugged terrain of most tribal lands and tribes’ limited  financial resources were the barriers to improved telecommunications  most often cited by officials of tribes and Alaska Native Villages we  interviewed. These two barriers were also cited by representatives of  service providers and federal agencies. These two barriers are interrelated,  can deter providers from investing in infrastructure on tribal lands, and  contribute to the low levels of subscribership on many tribal lands.
Tribal lands are mostly rural and characterized by large land areas, rugged  terrain such as mountains and canyons, low population density, and  geographic isolation from metropolitan areas. Figure 4, from the Pine Ridge  Indian Reservation in South Dakota, illustrates some of these  characteristics.
Generally, these factors make the cost of building and maintaining the  infrastructure needed to provide service higher than they would be in  urban settings. For example, more cable per customer is required over  large, sparsely populated areas, and when those areas are mountainous, it  can be more difficult and costly to install the cable. The Rural Task Force,  formed by the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service,  documented the high costs of serving rural customers in a report issued in  January 2000, which stated that the average telecommunications  infrastructure cost per customer for rural providers was $5,000, while the  average infrastructure cost per customer for non-rural providers was  $3,000. Officials from 17 tribes and 11 Alaska regional native non-profit  organizations we interviewed told us that the rural location of their tribe is  a telecommunications barrier.
Tribes’ limited financial resources are also seen as a barrier to improving  telecommunications services on tribal lands. Many tribal lands—including  some of those we visited such as the Navajo, the Mescalero Apache, the  Yakama and the Oglala Sioux—have poverty rates more than twice the  national rate, as well as high unemployment rates. The 2000 U.S. Census  showed that the per capita income for residents on tribal lands was $9,200  in 1999, less than half the U.S. per capita income of $21,600. Officials of 33  of the 38 Native American entities we interviewed told us that lack of  financial resources was a barrier to improving telecommunications  services. Several of these tribal officials told us that their tribal  governments must use their tribes’ limited financial resources on other  priorities such as water and sewer lines, housing, and public safety. In  addition, high levels of poverty on many tribal lands may also make it less  likely that tribal residents will subscribe to those telephone and Internet  services that are available, particularly when geographic barriers have  increased the costs of those services. For example, a Yakama Nation tribal  official told us that many residents cannot afford a computer or Internet  access; some cannot even afford telephone service.
These two factors, the rural location of tribal lands (which increases the  cost of installing telecommunications infrastructure) and tribes’ limited  financial resources (which can make it difficult for residents and tribal  governments to pay for services) can combine to deter service providers  from making investments in telecommunications on tribal lands. This lack  of investment can result in a lack of service, poor service quality, and little  or no competition. With regard to a lack of service, an official with the  Yakama Nation told us that while many tribal residents in the more heavily  populated areas have access to telephone service, the tribe’s service  provider has not built additional infrastructure to reach less populated  areas and has no plans to do so in the near future. A representative of the  company that provides service to the Coeur d’Alene tribe told us that  high-speed Internet was only available in certain areas of the Coeur d’Alene  tribal land, that there were no immediate plans to expand the service area,  and that there were cost issues in providing service to the more remote and  less densely populated parts of the reservation. Another provider’s  representative told us that providing digital subscriber lines (DSL) to  most parts of the Eastern Band of Cherokee’s reservation would not be  profitable because the land is rugged and to connect many of those who  live out in remote rural areas would require an investment that would be  difficult to justify. With regard to service quality, of the 38 tribes and tribal  representatives we interviewed, 9 mentioned service quality as a barrier to  improved telecommunications. One tribe told us that their local provider  has no local service office and few technicians, so that the company may  take days to repair or respond to a problem. With regard to the lack of  competition, officers of 2 tribes told us that because there is only 1  provider, they have no choice but to pay the prices being charged for  services, even though they think the prices are too high.
section_title: Lack of Technically-Trained Tribal Members Can Impede Planning and Was the Third Most Commonly Cited Barrier
paragraphs: The third barrier most commonly cited by tribal representatives was the  lack of tribal members trained in or knowledgeable about  telecommunications technologies. Officials of 13 of the 38 Native American  tribes and tribal organizations we interviewed told us that lack of  telecommunications training and knowledge among tribal members is a  barrier to improving their telecommunications. Some of these officials said  they needed more technically trained members to plan and oversee the  implementation of telecommunications improvements, as well as to  manage existing systems. For example, one tribal official told us that he is  currently understaffed and is running a multi-tribe wireless network with  just one other person. Another tribal official told us that there is only one  tribal member with formal training in telecommunications and that the  tribe needs a well trained person to take charge of the tribe’s  telecommunications needs. An official of the Coeur d’Alene tribe, who has  technical training, told us that the tribe does not have a sufficient number  of technically knowledgeable staff members to develop and maintain  needed telecommunications systems.
The same Coeur d’Alene tribal official also told us that tribes without  technically trained staff would be at a disadvantage in negotiating with  service providers. This official added that having tribal members trained in  telecommunications was necessary to ensure that a tribe’s planned  improvements included the equipment and technology the tribe wanted  and needed. In addition, one non-tribal stakeholder mentioned that a lack  of training prevented tribes from choosing appropriate technologies for  their specific needs. One industry stakeholder mentioned that tribes  needed a better understanding of the range and capacity of shared  spectrum wireless technology so they would not be disappointed by its  limitations. A 1995 Office of Technology Assessment study of  telecommunications on tribal lands stated that most Native American  reservations, villages, and communities would benefit from developing a  plan or vision of how telecommunications could best meet their  educational, health, economic development, and cultural needs. In 1999,  the Department of Commerce estimated that very few tribes had  telecommunications plans. Of the 38 tribes and tribal organizations we  interviewed, 14 told us they have some type of technology plan and 7 more  said they had a plan in development.
Industry stakeholders also told us that having tribal staff knowledgeable in  telecommunications policies improves the process of deploying services on  tribal lands. One service provider told us that if tribes delegated  telecommunications decisions to a tribal governmental committee, the  company could provide service more effectively and efficiently. Instead,  when a company has to bring telecommunications decisions before the full  tribal council, the process can be very time consuming because the full  tribal council meets infrequently and telecommunications issues are often  not at the top of the agenda. Another provider told us that having staff  knowledgeable in telecommunications policies and procedures, such as  rights of way and contract issues, allows providers to more quickly and  effectively deploy services because time is not spent negotiating over  unfamiliar terms.
section_title: Rights-of-Way Issues Were Also Cited as a Barrier to Improved Telecommunications Services on Tribal Lands
paragraphs: According to several service providers and tribal officials, obtaining a  right-of-way through Indian lands is a time-consuming and expensive  process that can impede service providers’ deployment of  telecommunications infrastructure. The right-of-way process on Indian  lands is more complex than the right-of-way process for non-Indian lands  because BIA must approve the application for a right-of-way across Indian  lands. BIA grants or approves actions affecting title on Indian lands, so all  service providers installing telecommunications infrastructure on Indian  lands must work with BIA or its contractor (realty service provider) to  obtain a right-of-way through Indian lands. To fulfill the requirements of  federal regulations for rights-of-way over Indian lands and obtain BIA  approval, service providers are required to take multiple steps and  coordinate with several entities during the application process. These steps  must be taken to obtain a right-of-way over individual Indian allotments as  well as tribal lands. Several of the steps involve the landowner, which could  be an individual landowner, multiple landowners, or the tribe, depending  on the status of the land. For example, the right-of-way process requires a)  written consent by the landowner to survey the land; b) an appraisal of the  land needed for the right-of-way; c) negotiations with the landowner to  discuss settlement terms; d) written approval by the landowner for the  right-of-way; and e) BIA approval of the right-of-way application.
Service providers told us that a lack of clarity in federal regulations for  rights-of-way over Indian lands can also slow down the right-of-way  approval process. During the right-of-way approval process, BIA has a  responsibility to ensure that the right-of-way suits the purpose and size of  the equipment being installed on the land. However, federal regulations do  not have guidance or descriptions for advanced telecommunications  infrastructure, which would assist BIA in evaluating telecommunications  rights-of-way applications. According to a Department of the Interior  official, descriptions and guidance for advanced telecommunications  infrastructure are absent because the regulations were created prior to the  advent of modern telecommunications equipment. For example, the federal  regulations have guidance and descriptions for the size of the right-of-way  needed and voltage levels of electrical equipment that can be installed for  commercial purposes, but similar descriptions and guidance are not  available for advanced telecommunications rights-of-way. According to  service providers, this lack of clarity can cause grey areas for BIA when it  attempts to classify the type of advanced telecommunications  infrastructure the service provider intends to install and whether it is for  commercial or residential purposes. This adds time to the right-of-way  approval process because BIA has to determine if the regulations allow for  the installation of the applicant’s infrastructure. A BIA official  acknowledged that portions of the federal regulations, including the  section on telecommunications infrastructure, are outdated. As a result,  BIA is currently revising the regulations to better apply to modern utility  technologies, including advanced telecommunications infrastructure, but  timeframes for completion of this work have not been established.
As mentioned above, BIA requires that service providers obtain approval  from the individual landowner or the tribe for a right-of-way. Service  providers told us that obtaining landowner consent for a right-of-way  across an individual Indian allotment is time consuming and expensive,  which can delay or deter deployment of telecommunications infrastructure  on tribal lands. For example, one service provider told us that an individual  Indian allotment of land can have over 200 owners, and federal regulations  require the service provider to gain approval from a majority of them. The  official stated that the time and cost of this process is compounded by the  fact that a telecommunications service line often crosses multiple  allotments. In addition, if the service provider cannot obtain consent for  the right-of-way from the majority of landowners, the provider is forced to  install lines that go around the allotment, which is also expensive.
section_title: Tribes Are Addressing Barriers to Improved Telecommunications in Different Ways
paragraphs: Several tribes are moving towards owning or developing part or all of their  own telecommunications systems to address the barriers of tribal lands’  rural location and rugged terrain and tribes’ limited financial resources,  which can deter service providers from investing in telecommunications on  tribal lands. These tribes are using federal grants, loans, or other  assistance, long-range planning, and private-sector partnerships to help  improve service on their lands. In addition, some tribes have addressed  these barriers by focusing on wireless technologies, which can be less  costly to deploy across large distances and rugged terrain. Some tribes are  addressing the shortage of technically-trained tribal members to plan and  implement improvements on tribal lands through mentoring and  partnerships with educational institutions. To help reduce the time and  expense required to obtain a right-of-way across tribal lands, one tribe is  developing a right-of-way policy to make the tribal approval process more  timely and efficient.
subsections: section_title: Several Tribes Are Moving Towards Developing Their Own Telecommunications Systems to Address Multiple Barriers
paragraphs: From our interviews of officials of 26 tribes and 12 Alaska regional native  non-profit organizations, we found that 22 are addressing the need to  improve their telecommunications services by developing or owning part  or all of their own local telecommunications network. Some of those we  spoke to told us that they were doing this because their provider was  unwilling to invest in improved telecommunications services, in part due to  the barriers of the tribe’s rural location, rugged terrain, and limited  financial resources. An additional 10 tribes told us that they have  considered or are considering owning part or all of their  telecommunications systems.
Four of the 6 tribes we visited are developing their own  telecommunications systems to address the lack of investment by  telecommunications companies. These tribes are addressing their limited  financial resources to fund telecommunications improvements by one of  three methods. Two of the 4 have obtained federal funds, another has  reduced its use of services from the current provider to help fund its own  system, and a fourth tribe has partnered with a local business also  adversely affected by poor telecommunications service. Two of these tribes  also told us that they have been able to provide better service and lower  prices than the incumbent provider because they are more concerned  about providing service than about making a profit.
subsections: section_title: Coeur d’Alene Tribe
paragraphs: The Coeur d’Alene Tribe in Idaho is using an RUS grant to overcome its  limited financial resources and develop its own high speed wireless  Internet system. Tribal officials told us that the wireline service provider  for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe had not deployed the necessary equipment to  offer high speed Internet access to all residents on tribal lands because  deploying the equipment was not profitable. (An official of the service  provider told us that high speed Internet was only available in certain  areas, that there were no immediate plans to expand the service area, and  that there were cost issues in expanding service to the more remote and  less densely populated parts of the reservation.) The tribe applied for an  RUS Community Connect Broadband grant to purchase and deploy a  wireless system to provide high-speed Internet access to all residents of the  tribal land. This type of grant can be used for expenditures for a wide array  of infrastructure and related needs, including necessary equipment that  many tribal members cannot afford. For example, the grant allows for the  purchase of equipment required to connect households and businesses to  the wireless system, and for the construction of a community technology  center for training and Internet access. The grant is being used to fund 5  towers to ensure that the wireless system reaches all populated Coeur  d’Alene lands, as well as fiber optic cable, technical staff, and operational  costs. The grant will make high-speed Internet access available to all  residents at the Community Technology Center, shown in figure 5, at no  cost, and high-speed Internet access to homes and businesses will be  available for purchase. The grant will also provide tribal members training  in computer use and maintenance. Tribal officials told us that after the first  2 years of operation, they expect to earn sufficient revenue from system  subscribers to fund needed maintenance and improvements.
The Mescalero Apache in New Mexico used RUS loans to overcome  financial barriers and establish their own telecommunications company.  The tribe also borrowed equipment from an equipment manufacturer until  it was able to purchase its own. Tribal officials told us that their former  service provider had not invested adequate funds in the  telecommunications network on Mescalero Apache tribal lands to provide  high quality voice or data services. They added that, as a result, telephone  service was poor and high quality voice and data services, such as Internet  access, were not widely available. The Mescalero Apache Tribal  Government purchased the telecommunications network from the local  telephone company that had been providing service on the tribal land. The  tribe formed Mescalero Apache Telecommunications, Inc. (MATI) to  develop this network and directed the company to focus on providing  services to all Mescalero Apache lands and not just on maximizing profit.  MATI then rebuilt the system, putting in more than 1,000 miles of fiber-optic  cable and providing high-speed Internet access as well as local and long  distance telephone service. According to a MATI official, telephone and  high-speed Internet access, such as DSL, are now nearly universally  available within reservation boundaries. MATI has deployed various  high-speed Internet access services to tribal businesses and schools. Figure  6 shows the Mescalero Apache School computer lab which utilizes  MATI-provided Internet connectivity.
The Yakama Nation in Washington established a long-range plan to  overcome its financial barriers by using funds saved over the past few years  through reduction of the tribal government’s use of telecommunications  services from its provider. The tribe is using these savings to develop its  own telecommunications system to provide telephone and high-speed  Internet access. The tribe is also using monies from the negotiation of  utility rights-of-way. The tribal government made the decision to develop its  own telecommunications company several years ago, partly in response to  the increase in monthly telecommunications charges levied by the local  provider, which raised the tribe’s annual cost from $275,000 to $325,000. At  that time, the tribe put together a long-range plan that required the tribe to  reduce its use of the current provider’s services, and use the resulting  savings to develop its own system. A tribal official told us that long-range  financial planning and careful budgeting have been important to the tribe’s  success and that infrastructure has been purchased or installed each year  based on what the tribe could afford. Since 1998, the tribe has used annual  savings from reduced telephone services and funds from other services to  establish a telecommunications company, and then purchase related  equipment. The tribe was able to purchase this fiber optic cable at 25  percent of its retail price and negotiated with a local contractor to install  the fiber at a price far below the market rate. The tribe plans to sell the  equipment necessary to connect to the new telecommunications system to  tribal members and tribal businesses.
section_title: Eastern Band of Cherokee
paragraphs: The Eastern Band of Cherokee in North Carolina overcame financial  barriers by partnering with another local business to build a fiber optic  cable network throughout and beyond its tribal lands to provide high-speed  Internet access and transport. The Eastern Band of Cherokee’s tribal lands  are located in the Smokey Mountains and are geographically isolated from  major metropolitan areas that have Internet access points. As a result, it is  expensive to connect infrastructure in the area to the nearest high-speed  Internet access points. A tribal official told us that the tribe’s service  provider did not expand or upgrade the telecommunications infrastructure  on tribal lands because the provider did not find the additional investment  in infrastructure to be profitable. (The provider representative told us that  providing DSL to most parts of the reservation would not be profitable as  the land is rugged and rural, and to connect many of those who live out in  remote rural areas would require an investment that would be difficult to  justify.) A tribal official told us that one example of the poor service quality  is an outage that occurred within the past year. All communications  services were unavailable for 48 hours in 6 counties because a cut was  made in the company’s copper wire. Since the system has no backup  provision, there was no service until the cut was repaired. The Cherokee  told us their casino lost millions of dollars during the outage, and that the  loss for the region as a whole was estimated at $72 million. To improve  service and offer residents on tribal lands high-speed Internet access, the  tribe partnered with a local corporation that provides electronic income  tax filing services, and had also suffered financial loss from the recent  outage. Together, the tribe and the corporation are constructing a fiber  optic cable network, both on and off tribal lands. Figure 7 shows fiber  being deployed for this network. The Eastern Band of Cherokee and their  partner have formed a company that will act as both a wholesaler and a  retailer of telecommunications services. A company official told us that  because of the cost of putting in the fiber and the low density of the service  area, a private, for-profit company would never have made this level of  investment. Officials of the tribe and the company told us that the tribe will  use its ownership in these networks and future planned deployment of  cable and wireless infrastructure to ensure that all residents of tribal lands  can receive high-speed Internet, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), and  other information and content applications at costs and quality levels  comparable to or better than metropolitan areas.
section_title: Some Tribes Have Focused on Wireless Technologies to Address Barriers of Rural Location and Rugged Terrain and Limited Financial Resources
paragraphs: Several tribes we interviewed have focused their efforts on wireless  technologies to help address the barriers of tribal lands’ rural, rugged  location and tribes’ limited financial resources, with funding for these  efforts coming from both public and private sources. Service providers and  equipment manufacturers told us that wireless service is often less  expensive to deploy across large distances than wireline service because  wireless infrastructure, such as a tower, is less expensive to deploy than a  wireline infrastructure.
Examples of tribes focusing on wireless technologies include the following:   Several tribes have deployed shared spectrum wireless networks to  provide high-speed Internet access. For example, the Southern  California Tribal Chairman’s Association (SCTCA), a consortium of 17  federally recognized tribes, received a grant from a private foundation to  establish a wireless network, called the Tribal Digital Village Network  (TDVNet), to provide high-speed Internet access to all 17 tribes. SCTCA  tribes are located in Southern California in remote and hilly terrain and  scattered across 150 square miles. In addition to its low cost, TDVNet  utilizes shared spectrum technologies because the equipment can  operate on solar power. This is particularly important in remote areas  where electrical power may not be available. TDVNet staff are also  developing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) capabilities to provide  telephone service over high-speed Internet access in those tribal  communities where the deployment of wireline service is cost  prohibitive. The Coeur d’ Alene and the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and  California are deploying similar networks.
Service provider officials in Alaska told us that satellite  telecommunications systems are the only telecommunications options  to provide telephone service for many Alaska Native Villages because  the vast distances from these areas to existing infrastructure make  wireline systems too expensive to install. A major Alaska service  provider is utilizing a combined satellite and shared spectrum wireless  network to extend high-speed Internet access to many Alaska Native  Villages.
In addition, 2 tribes we visited addressed their need for improved  telecommunications services by encouraging wireless companies to  compete with wireline providers for customers on their lands. In both  cases, the wireless companies have obtained status as an ETC and are able  to obtain universal service funds, particularly the High Cost Fund and  Enhanced Lifeline and Enhanced Linkup, to profitably provide service in  these areas.
subsections: section_title: Oglala Sioux
paragraphs: The Oglala Sioux in South Dakota encouraged a wireless company to  provide service in the area in order to improve services and reduce the cost  of telephone service to the tribal land customers. According to tribal and  wireless service provider officials, the key to developing this solution was  the wireless provider’s ability to use universal service funds to help  subsidize the costs of its network and offer discounted telephone service to  tribal land residents. To access universal service funds, the wireless  provider, with consent from the tribe, applied to FCC for ETC status, which  was granted in 2001, enabling the wireless provider to access universal  service funds. The tribe also worked with the provider to create an  expanded local calling area that included all areas of the reservation and  the town of Rapid City, South Dakota. According to a tribal official, the  addition of Rapid City, South Dakota, as part of the local calling area was  an important cost-saving measure for the tribe because a significant  number of Oglala Sioux live in the Rapid City area.
According to tribal and service provider officials, this wireless service  allows tribal members to reach public safety services from nearly any  location on tribal lands. A tribal official said that this is particularly  important due to the tribe’s large land area, remote location, and the  summer and winter weather extremes in the area. The tribal official also  told us that the wireless provider initially anticipated having about 300  customers on the Oglala Sioux’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation land, but  had about 4,000 customers within 1 year of offering service.
section_title: Navajo Nation
paragraphs: The Navajo government has encouraged 2 wireless providers to offer  services on Navajo lands in competition with wireline providers. The  Navajo Nation encourages providers to deploy wireless  telecommunications networks because providing wireline  telecommunications throughout the Navajo Nation is cost prohibitive due  to the tribe’s large land area, which is about the size of West Virginia.  Census data indicate that residents on Navajo lands in Arizona, New  Mexico, and Utah are among the most economically distressed groups in  the United States. Tribal officials told us that competition is the best  method to lower prices and improve services. One wireless provider has  been able to access universal service funds to make service more  affordable. Officials from wireless companies told us that access to  universal service program funds combined with the use of less costly  wireless technologies provides a viable business case for entry onto Navajo  lands.
section_title: Some Tribes Are Addressing the Need for More Technically-Trained Tribal Members Through Mentoring and Partnerships
paragraphs: Some tribes we visited discussed ways they were developing technical  expertise in telecommunications, while others spoke of the importance of  the technical expertise they had, particularly in helping them plan for  telecommunications improvements.
subsections: section_title: Addressing Need for More Technically-Trained Tribal Members
paragraphs: Tribal, industry, and government stakeholders said that training in  telecommunications technologies provides tribal members with some of  the necessary skills to operate the tribes’ own telecommunications  networks. Several tribal officials told us that having staff with the technical  expertise necessary to plan and manage telecommunications  improvements was critical to their efforts. However, less than half of the  tribal officials we interviewed told us that their tribes have developed  telecommunications plans or estimated the cost of planned improvements.
One tribe that has taken steps to get needed technical training is the Coeur  d’Alene Tribe. The tribe plans to provide two colleges with access to its  new high-speed Internet system in exchange for distance learning classes  and technical training. Similarly, the Yakama Nation has proposed to  connect a local university to its telecommunications system in exchange  for technical training for its staff. A Yakama official emphasized that having  trained staff to manage and maintain the telecommunications system once  it is operational is very important, and the tribe determined that this kind of  exchange with a local university would help provide the staff with the  necessary training.
The Mescalero Apache Tribe has improved its technical capacity by hiring  technically trained staff, and has created a technical mentoring program.  MATI hired tribal and non-tribal members to operate its telephone  company. Although about half of MATI’s staff consists of non-tribal  members, tribal officials expect to hire more tribal members as they  receive the necessary training. Many of the employees who are not tribal  members are experienced and technically proficient. MATI has created a  mentoring program partnering the experienced and technically trained  employees with newer employees. The goal is to create a self-sufficient  tribal staff with the knowledge to understand and operate a  telecommunications network. In addition, the company offers technical  consulting services to other tribes that are interested in providing their own  telecommunications network.
MATI also hosts an annual telecommunications conference for tribes and  municipal governments to inform them about the basics of  telecommunications finance and technology. In addition, MATI has used its  technical expertise to explore new ways to deploy telecommunications  services. Figure 8 shows MATI’s Voice over Internet Protocol service  platform that it utilizes as a means to send voice conversations over the  Internet.
To address the current lack of computer and Internet knowledge among its  tribal members, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe plans to provide training and  Internet access at the Community Technology Center as long as their  budget permits. Those attending training will be assisted by the recently  hired technical staff in repairing and refurbishing computers that belonged  to tribal offices, and will be allowed to keep the computers for home use  once the work is complete. The Yakama Nation and Eastern Band of  Cherokee also plan to train tribal members in computer and Internet use at  an existing tribal technology center.
section_title: Using Technical Expertise for Effective Planning
paragraphs: Officials of several tribes told us that having staff with technical expertise  was critical to their efforts to plan their telecommunications. For example,  a tribal official of the Rincon Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the  Rincon Reservation, told us that a tribal member with technical knowledge  determined the need for improved Internet access and identified the  appropriate technology (wireless broadband). He also identified a funding  opportunity to bring high-speed Internet access to 17 Southern California  tribes, most of which did not have Internet access because of geographic  barriers and prohibitive infrastructure costs.
Officials of 14 of the 38 tribes and tribal organizations we interviewed told  us that they have developed a technology plan. An official of the Coeur  d’Alene Tribe told us that plans are important to ensure that tribes have  selected technologies that are appropriate for their tribal needs and  geography. All 6 of the tribes we visited are taking actions to improve their  telecommunications based on plans they developed.
Most of the tribal officials we interviewed told us that their tribes do not  have cost estimates for improving telecommunications. The Coeur d’Alene  tribal official told us that determining the cost of new systems and making  plans to pay for these improvements is important. This official added that  plans should not only include information about how to finance the system,  but should also describe the means to pay for training of staff so they will  have the technical expertise required to maintain and manage the current  or proposed system. For example, Yakama Nation and Coeur d’Alene tribal  officials stated that they designed telecommunications systems that will  produce revenue from customers sufficient to pay for improvements,  maintenance, and technically trained staff.
section_title: One Tribe is Developing a Right-of-Way Policy to Make the Tribal Approval Process More Timely and Efficient
paragraphs: Navajo Nation officials and service providers told us that the Navajo  Nation’s right-of-way approval process is time consuming and expensive,  which has delayed or deterred the deployment of telecommunications  infrastructure on Navajo land. For example, an official from one service  provider told us that this tribal approval process impedes service because  the timeline for obtaining tribal council approval varies for each  right-of-way application, tribal departments can differ on the goals and  price of the right-of-way, and it takes extra time for these departments to  reach consensus. A Navajo official agreed that their right-of-way processes  can delay deployment of telecommunications infrastructure and increase  its cost because timelines vary for each application. Another official told us  that a major reason for this slow process is that tribal entities involved in  Navajo’s internal rights-of-way process have different opinions on the goals  and price of telecommunications rights-of-ways. For example, some tribal  officials expect high up-front rights-of-way fees based on their experiences  for granting rights-of-way for natural resources like coal, which would  typically produce a higher revenue stream than telecommunications.
To address this issue, Navajo officials are developing an approach to  reduce the time and expense required to obtain tribal consent for a  telecommunications right-of-way across their land. The Navajo Nation  Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NNTRC) has drafted a  policy to streamline tribal consent for telecommunications rights-of-way.  (Figure 9 shows the NNTRC’s headquarters in Window Rock, Arizona.) One  of NNTRC’s functions is to decrease the barriers service providers  encounter while deploying telecommunications infrastructure on the land.  Through information gathering sessions between commissioners and  service providers, the commission determined that the Navajo process for  the approval of telecommunications rights-of-way needed to be changed  because the deployment of telecommunications services was being  delayed. In order for NNTRC to make changes to the Navajo right-of-way  process, the Tribal Council first granted NNTRC full authority over  telecommunications issues, such as rights-of-way for telecommunications  infrastructure.
To address the barriers service providers encounter with the Navajo  right-of-way process, NNTRC drafted a policy that grants NNTRC the sole  responsibility for providing tribal approval for a right-of-way. This would  allow “one stop shopping” for the service providers, who would no longer  have to coordinate with multiple tribal departments and offices. According  to a Navajo official, this policy is currently being reviewed for approval by  several of their tribal government departments. Following this approval  process, NNTRC intends to implement this policy.
In addition, NNTRC officials stated that there is a more feasible price  structure for telecommunications rights-of-way that better reflects the  market value of telecommunications rights-of-way. This price structure  would include an upfront payment covering the market value of the land  plus an additional percent of future earnings from the equipment. The  officials told us that this type of arrangement would assist the service  provider’s business case because the provider would have to release less  capital in the beginning of the project, while offering telecommunications  services to Navajo residents. Once the infrastructure begins to produce a  revenue stream and has a viable business case, the Navajo Nation would  receive a percentage of these funds for the life of the infrastructure.
section_title: Conclusions
paragraphs: Under the principles of universal service, as established by Congress, FCC  has recognized the need to promote telecommunications deployment and  subscribership on tribal lands. Despite improvements in both deployment  and subscribership of telecommunications services, as of 2000, Native  Americans on tribal lands still lag significantly behind the rest of the nation.  The underlying cause of this problem is difficult to determine because of a  paucity of current information about both deployment and subscribership  of telecommunications for Native Americans on tribal lands. Moreover, this  lack of adequate data makes it difficult for FCC and Congress to assess the  extent to which federal efforts designed to increase telecommunications  deployment and subscribership on these lands is succeeding.
One difficulty we found relates to a statutory provision in the  Communications Act which precludes some tribal libraries from benefiting  from a universal service program. The current statutory provision does not  allow tribal libraries to obtain E-rate funding for libraries unless the tribal  library is eligible for assistance from a state library administrative agency  under LSTA. In at least two cases, tribes have not applied for E-rate funds  because their tribal libraries are not eligible for state LSTA funds. However,  FCC has stated that it cannot modify the eligibility criteria in the statute.  Clarifying this issue could help bring high-speed Internet access to more  residents of tribal lands through their tribal libraries.
In reviewing how some tribes are addressing barriers to improving  telecommunications services on tribal lands, we found that tribes took a  variety of approaches for addressing these barriers, suggesting that  flexibility in planning and implementing telecommunications  improvements on tribal lands is important. Because circumstances vary  widely, we do not know the extent to which other tribes and Alaska Native  Villages may be able to benefit from the experiences of these six. However,  given that many tribes and Alaska Native Villages face similar barriers,  policy makers working to assist tribes and Alaska Native Villages in  improving telecommunications may want to consider the approaches  employed by these tribes.
section_title: Matters for Congressional Consideration
paragraphs: Congress should consider directing FCC to determine what additional data  is needed to help assess progress toward the goal of providing access to  telecommunications services, including high-speed Internet, for Native  Americans living on tribal lands; determine how this data should regularly  be collected; and report to Congress on its findings.
To facilitate Internet access for tribal libraries, Congress should consider  amending the Communications Act of 1934 to allow libraries eligible for  Library Service and Technology Act funds provided by the Director of IMLS  to either a state library administrative agency or to a federally recognized  tribe to be eligible for funding under the E-rate program.
section_title: Agency Comments
paragraphs: We provided a draft of this report for comment to BIA, the Census Bureau,  NTIA,  FCC, General Services Administration, Institute of Museum and  Library Services, and RUS. BIA provided written comments, presented in  appendix IV, stating that BIA recognized the need to update its  rights-of-way regulations to include advanced telecommunications  infrastructure, and is working to include this in its trust related regulations.  BIA stated that it will issue a Rights-of-Way Handbook in March 2006, to  ensure consistent application of existing regulations. RUS and the General  Services Administration responded that they had no comments. The  Institute of Museum and Library Services provided written comments,  found in appendix V, stating that the report accurately reflected its  understanding of the relevant issues and concerns. NTIA offered technical  comments, as did the Census Bureau and FCC, which we have  incorporated where appropriate. In the draft report, we recommended that  the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission direct FCC staff  to determine what additional data is needed to help assess progress toward  the goal of providing access to telecommunications services, including  high-speed Internet, to Native Americans living on tribal lands; determine  how this data should be regularly collected; and report to Congress on its  findings. In oral comments responding to our recommendation, FCC  agreed that additional data is needed to help assess progress toward the  goal of providing access to telecommunications services, including  high-speed Internet. However, FCC did not agree that it is the organization  best positioned to determine the data needed in this context, noting that  other federal agencies and departments possess expertise and more direct  authorization to determine whether and what economic and demographic  data are needed to support policy making. In view of FCC’s disagreement  with our recommended action, we have made it a matter for Congressional  consideration. We continue to believe that FCC, as the agency responsible  under the Communications Act for the goal of making available, as far as  possible, telecommunications at reasonable charges to all Americans, is the  appropriate agency to determine what data is needed to advance the goal of  universal service and support related policy decisions—especially for  Native Americans on tribal lands who continue to be disadvantaged in this  regard.
As agreed with your offices, unless you publicly announce the contents of  this report earlier, we plan no further distribution of it until 30 days after  the date of this letter. At that time, we will send copies of this report to the  appropriate congressional committees, tribal organizations and  governments, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Census Bureau, Economic  Development Administration, Federal Communications Commission,  General Services Administration, Indian Health Service, Institute of  Museum and Library Services, National Science Foundation, National  Telecommunications and Information Administration, Rural Utilities  Service, Universal Service Administrative Company, and the Director of the  Office of Management and Budget. We will make copies available to others  upon request. In addition, this report will be available at no cost on the  GAO web site at http://www.gao.gov. If you have any questions about the  report, please contact me at (202) 512-2834 or goldsteinm@gao.gov.  Contact points for our Office of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this report. GAO staff who contributed to  this report are listed in appendix VI.
section_title: Scope and Methodology
paragraphs: The objectives of this report were to determine: 1) the status of  telecommunications subscribership (telephone and Internet) for Native  Americans on tribal lands in the lower 48 states and Alaska; 2) federal  programs available for improving telecommunications services on tribal  lands; 3) the barriers that exist to improving telecommunications on tribal  lands; and 4) how some tribes have addressed these barriers.
To respond to the objectives of this report, we gathered information from a  variety of sources. Specifically, we gathered information by (1) reviewing  material relevant to telecommunications on tribal lands from federal, state,  Native American, academic, non-profit, and private sources; (2)  interviewing federal and state regulatory agency officials; (3) interviewing  officials of national and regional Native American organizations; (4)  interviewing officials of telecommunications provider and equipment  manufacturer organizations; (5) conducting telephone interviews of tribal  officials on 26 tribal lands and 12 Alaska regional native non-profit  organizations; and (6) making site visits to six tribal lands.
To provide information on the status of telecommunications subscribership  for Native Americans on tribal lands in Alaska and the lower 48 states, we  analyzed data from the 2000 decennial census. To determine telephone  subscribership, we used Census 2000 data product, American Indian and  Alaska Native Summary File. This summary file includes tabulations of the  population and housing data collected from a sample of the population  (within most Native American and Alaska Native areas, 1 in every 2  households). In these areas, there must be at least 100 people in a specific  group, including Native American and Alaska Native tribal groupings,  before data will be shown. In our analysis of this 2000 Census data we did  not include Native individuals or households located in Oklahoma Tribal  Statistical Areas (OTSA). OTSAs are statistical entities identified and  delineated by the Census in consultation with federally recognized Native  American tribes in Oklahoma that do not currently have a reservation, but  once had a reservation in that state. Boundaries of OTSAs are those of the  former reservations in Oklahoma, except where modified by agreements  with neighboring tribes for data presentation purposes. We also excluded  all other tribal lands in the Census 2000 data that were not federally  recognized. As a result of these exclusions and the Census reporting  threshold, the data show 198 lower 48 tribal lands and 131 Alaska Native  Villages for people who indicated their race, alone or in combination, as  American Indian and/or Alaska Native. We assessed the reliability of the  data from the Census Bureau by interviewing knowledgeable agency  officials about data collection methods, particularly those pertaining to  collection of data on tribal lands, reviewing existing documentation on  Census data, and conducting electronic testing of the data. We determined  that the data were sufficiently reliable for the purposes of this report.
To determine the status of Internet subscribership on tribal lands, we spoke  to the Census Bureau about the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS  is a monthly survey of households conducted by the Census Bureau for the  Bureau of Labor Statistics, and is designed primarily to produce national  and state estimates for characteristics of the labor force. To obtain national  and state estimates on Internet subscribership rates, supplemental  questions on Internet and computer use have been added to the CPS  questionnaire. However, the CPS sample cannot provide reliable estimates  of Internet subscribership on tribal lands.
To determine the availability of federal programs that improve  telecommunications on tribal lands, we interviewed agency officials from  the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Universal Service  Administrative Company (USAC), the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), the  National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the  Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the Economic Development Administration  (EDA), the Indian Health Service (IHS), the Institute of Museum and  Library Services (IMLS), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the  General Services Administration (GSA). To determine the funding amounts  for these programs, we reviewed annual federal budget data and agency  documents. To learn about FCC programs targeted to tribal lands, we  interviewed tribal officials, FCC staff, and service providers. To learn the  amount of funds disbursed and number of program subscribers for  Enhanced Lifeline and Enhanced Linkup, we obtained information from  the Universal Service Administrative Company. To assess the reliability of  the FCC’s data for the Enhanced Lifeline and Enhanced Linkup programs,  we interviewed agency officials knowledgeable about the data and the  systems that produced them. The FCC does not track this information by  tribal lands; however, we determined that the data were sufficiently reliable  to present the total amount of money disbursed by year and the total  number of subscribers to these programs by year.
To assess the reliability of FCC’s data on Tribal Land Bidding Credits, we  interviewed agency officials knowledgeable about the data and the systems  that produced them. We determined that the data were sufficiently reliable  for the purposes of our report.
To learn what barriers exist to improve telecommunications services on  tribal lands, we analyzed information from various federal agencies, such  as the Census Bureau, FCC, the Department of Commerce, as well as  reports from a private foundation, the Benton Foundation and a national  tribal organization, the National Congress of American Indians. We  reviewed two previous studies of telecommunications technology on tribal  lands. We also reviewed testimony from hearings before the Senate  Committee on Indian Affairs and the House of Representatives Committee  on Financial Services and Committee on Resources. We conducted  interviews with national and regional tribal organizations, major local  service providers, selected wireless equipment manufacturers, and non- profit organizations that have contributed to improving  telecommunications on tribal lands. Finally, we conducted interviews with  officials of 26 tribes and 12 Alaska regional native nonprofit organizations.
We selected officials of tribal lands for interviews by first separating the  Alaska Native Villages from the federally recognized reservations in the  lower 48 states because telecommunications infrastructure in Alaska  differs from that of the lower 48 due to Alaska’s weather and terrain. To  learn about the barriers facing Alaska Native Villages and the efforts to  overcome them, we interviewed officials from 12 Alaska regional native  nonprofit organizations. To learn about the barriers facing tribes in the  lower 48 states, we interviewed tribal officials from a total of 26 of the  more than 300 tribal lands of the lower 48 states, selected by using  demographic and economic indicators from both 1990 and 2000 Census  data for natives and nonnatives, as well as information from various  reports, studies and testimonies on individual tribal efforts to improve  telecommunications.
To select tribes in the lower 48 states to interview, we focused on the larger  and more populated tribal lands in the lower 48 states, using Census data to  select those tribes with populations over 100 persons and those tribal lands  larger than one square mile. We also excluded tribal lands for which there  was no 1990 Census data because without this data we could not identify  change in telephone subscribership rates from 1990 to 2000. We then  grouped the remaining tribal lands into 8 population categories, ranging in  size from over 30,000 to under 500. Having postulated that the major  barriers to increased telephone subscribership might be associated with  poverty, geographic isolation, and lack of technical skills, we used the 1990  and 2000 Census data to determine for each of these tribal lands the  percent of the population at or below the poverty level, the mileage of tribal  lands from the closest population center of over 15,000, the percent of  those over 25 without a high school diploma, and the change in telephone  subscribership rate from 1990 to 2000. We selected tribal lands from each  of the 8 population groups with a range of scores on the above described  criteria. Within the group of tribal lands that met the above criteria, we also  strove to select tribal lands, where possible, from different geographic  regions of the county. Using this methodology, we selected 21 tribal lands  for interview. We used data from the 1990 and 2000 decennial censuses’  American Indian and Alaska Native summary file.
In addition to the 21 tribal lands selected, we also selected five tribal lands  that had made efforts to improve telecommunications. We learned about  these tribes from our analysis of documents from FCC, a national tribal  organization, scholars and nonprofit organizations, as well as from our  interviews with tribes, tribal organizations, service providers and  equipment manufacturers. Tribes’ efforts included establishing tribally  owned telecommunications companies, introducing new technologies to  provide Internet access, developing programs to provide technical training  for tribal members, and establishing a tribal regulatory agency to improve  telecommunications, including the rights-of-way processes on tribal land.
The telephone interviews conducted with officials from these 26 tribal  lands and 12 Alaska regional native nonprofit organizations covered topics  such as which companies provide wireline and wireless telephone service  and Internet access on tribal lands; what factors contributed to any change  in telephone subscribership rates from 1990 to 2000 (as derived from  Census data); any barriers tribes faced in improving telecommunications  services on tribal lands; how those barriers had been addressed; tribes’  experience with applying for various federal programs and with providers  seeking Eligible Telecommunications Carrier status or applying for Tribal  Lands Bidding Credits.
Based on our analysis of the compiled research and interviews, we  determined that tribes faced barriers in one or more of the following four  categories: financial, geographic, technical, or rights-of-way. From our  interviews, we identified 11 tribes as potential candidates for site visits  because they were confronting one or more of these four barriers, had  made progress in improving telecommunications services on their lands,  and as a group, represented a range of population and tribal land sizes, as  well as geographic locations. We then selected 6 of these tribes for site  visits, assuring that, as a group, they represented all of the identified  barriers and were located in different geographic regions of the lower 48  states. In addition to interviewing tribal officials at the six sites we visited,  we also interviewed officials of some of the companies that provided  telecommunications service to those sites regarding their views about the  barriers to improving telecommunications services on tribal lands.
We conducted our audit work from August 2004 through December 2005 in  Washington, D.C., and at the Coeur D'Alene Tribe of the Coeur D'Alene  Reservation, Idaho; Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation,  Washington; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina; Oglala  Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota; Mescalero  Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation, New Mexico; and Navajo  Nation in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Our work was conducted in  accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.
section_title: List of Tribes, Alaska Regional Native Nonprofit Organizations, and Other Groups Interviewed
paragraphs: Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation Paiute-Shoshone Indians of the Bishop Community of the Bishop Colony Rincon Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Rincon Reservation San Carlos Apache Tribe of the San Carlos Reservation Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation B. Alaska Regional Native Non-Profit Organizations Alaska Communications Systems Group Inc.
American Indian Higher Education Consortium Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Telephone Authority Mescalero Apache Telecommunications, Inc.
National Indian Telecommunications Institute Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies San Carlos Apache Telecommunications Utility, Inc.
We visited six tribes—the Coeur d’Alene of Idaho, the Yakama of  Washington, the Eastern Band of Cherokee of North Carolina, the  Mescalero Apache of New Mexico, the Oglala Sioux of South Dakota, and  the Navajo of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah—to determine how they  approached their particular barriers to improving their  telecommunications services. These tribes vary in size, geography, and  other characteristics. In addition, we discussed approaches to overcoming  barriers with officials of other tribes, service providers, and other entities,  and found that tribes use numerous approaches to overcome the barriers  they face. The approaches taken by a tribe often address more than one  barrier.
subsections: section_title: The Coeur d’Alene Tribe Developed a System to Provide High-Speed Internet Access for Tribal Residents Using an RUS Grant
paragraphs: The Coeur d’Alene, whose tribal lands cover 523 square miles in northern  Idaho, used an overall strategy of developing the tribe’s own system to  provide high-speed Internet access for tribal members. Within this  telecommunications strategy, the tribe’s particular approaches included  applying for and obtaining an RUS grant, negotiating for rights-of-ways, and  developing technical expertise.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: The Coeur d’Alene’s tribal lands are located about 27 miles from Coeur  d’Alene, Idaho, the nearest population center of 15,000 or more inhabitants.  According to the 2000 Census, 1,303 Native Americans were living on the  Coeur d’Alene lands. The estimated per capita income for Native  Americans on Coeur d’Alene lands was $10,267, or less than half the  national estimate of $21,587, while the poverty level was 28 percent, 15.6  percent above the national estimate of 12.4 percent. The unemployment  level was 18 percent, or 12.2 percent above the national unemployment  level of 5.8 percent.
section_title: Barriers
paragraphs: According to tribal officials, the tribe’s major barriers to improved  telecommunications services included the following: Financial: Many tribal residents are poor and a tribal official said many  cannot afford high-speed Internet service. This official told us that the  Coeur d’ Alene face an underemployment problem, as many people are  employed but are paid low wages and have little money to spend on  communications services. This official also told us that in addition, the  tribe itself does not have the funds to pay for telecommunications  equipment and services for its residents.
Geographic: Service providers have not expanded the telecommunications  infrastructure across the tribe’s lands or upgraded the infrastructure to  provide high-speed Internet access, partly because the large land area  consisting of hilly and mountainous terrain makes expansion of the  infrastructure expensive. According to a Coeur d’Alene tribal official,  service providers determined that the cost of infrastructure expansion or  improvement was too great to offer service to a limited number of tribal  land residents, many of whom could not afford high speed Internet access.
Lack of tribal technical capacity: A tribal official told us that the tribe does  not have a sufficient number of technically knowledgeable staff members  to develop and maintain needed telecommunications systems.
Rights-of-way: This became an issue for the tribe after it decided to put up  its own wireless system. Tribal officials told us that they could not afford to  pay the prices asked by some landowners and residents within reservation  boundaries for rights-of-way to locate equipment on their land.
section_title: Approaches
paragraphs: To obtain better telecommunications services, the tribe decided to develop  its own telecommunications system that would offer high-speed Internet  access to all residents. One of the tribal members who had received  technical training and was knowledgeable about high-speed Internet access  determined that such access was possible at affordable rates and that the  tribe’s large and rugged land area made a wireless system the least  expensive choice. According to a tribal official, high-speed Internet access  will improve access to business and educational opportunities,  telemedicine services, and better enable the tribe to preserve its language  and history.
Since the tribe did not have sufficient funds to develop a  telecommunications system on its own, the technically trained tribal  member applied for an RUS Community Connect grant. This type of grant  can be used for expenditures for a wide array of infrastructure and related  needs, such as household and business connection equipment as well as  the construction of a community technology center. In May 2003, the tribe  was awarded a $2.8 million grant that will be used to pay for five towers,  fiber optic cable, equipment to send and receive wireless signals for all  tribal households and businesses, technical staff to deploy and operate the  system for 3 years, operational costs, and the community technology  center. As of July 2005, the system was complete and operating. The  technically trained tribe member is now managing the system.
Once the tribe received the grant, it had to overcome the barriers of 1)  obtaining rights-of-way in order to locate equipment and 2) developing a  technically knowledgeable staff to eventually operate the planned system.  Rather than paying for rights-of-way across private land, the tribe acquired  the rights-of-way they needed for access roads and equipment in exchange  for connections to the system. To address the current lack of technical  knowledge among tribal residents, the tribe is working with two local  colleges to increase its technical knowledge. The tribe is offering the  college access to its new broadband system in exchange for distance  learning classes and technical training. The tribe has also made plans to  receive technical training from the Mescalero Apache Tribe, which owns its  own system and provides training in telecommunications. In addition, to  increase interest among tribal members in Internet access and computer  usage, the tribal government plans to provide tribal members with training  and Internet access at the tribe’s community technology center for as long  as its budget will allow. Those attending training will be assisted by the  recently hired technical staff in repairing and refurbishing computers that  belong to the tribe and are no longer needed. They will be allowed to keep  the computers for home use once the work is complete.
Services are being offered for free for 2 years to the Benewah Medical  Center, local libraries, fire and police departments on tribal land, as well as  tribal and local public schools. The system will also make telemedicine  services available so that those who are uninsured or underinsured can  obtain the expertise of physicians not located on tribal lands. In addition,  tribal members and non-tribal members will have high-speed Internet  access at the community center at no cost. However, there will be a fee for  high-speed Internet access to homes for tribal and non-tribal members  living within reservation boundaries. Tribal officials told us that, after the  first 2 years of operation, they expect to earn sufficient revenue from  subscribers within tribal boundaries to fund needed maintenance and  improvements, as well as offset the costs of operating the Community  Technology Center.
Additionally, tribal officials told us that they are planning to purchase a  local cable company to acquire the company’s lines and the rights-of-way  that the company has negotiated across land within reservation  boundaries. The tribe is hoping to use revenue from the broadband Internet  system to provide broadband through cable services to current and future  customers. Tribal officials expect the broadband services to attract  businesses and are planning to provide technical support to new  businesses on tribal lands, such as writing software.
section_title: The Yakama Nation Is Developing a Wireless Telephone System and High- Speed Internet over Cable Using Financial Planning to Help Deploy Infrastructure
paragraphs: The Yakama Nation, whose lands encompass 2,153 square miles in south  central Washington, is developing its own telecommunications system that  will offer wireless telephone and high-speed Internet access to all tribal  land residents. The tribe has developed a long-range plan to finance  development through savings accumulated over several years, mainly by  reducing the amount of services purchased from the incumbent  telecommunications provider and negotiating rights-of-way for  telecommunications infrastructure.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: The Yakama Nation’s tribal lands are located about 24 miles from Yakima,  Washington, the nearest population center of 15,000 or more inhabitants.  According to the 2000 Census, 31,646 residents were living on Yakama  tribal lands, 7,756 of them being Native Americans. Estimated per capita  income for Native Americans on Yakama lands was $8,816 or less than half  the national estimate of $21,587, while the poverty level was 31 percent,  18.6 percent above the national estimate of 12.4 percent. Unemployment  levels were 23 percent, or 17.2 percent above the national unemployment  level of 5.8 percent.
section_title: Barriers
paragraphs: According to the tribal official with whom we spoke, the tribe’s major  barriers to improved telecommunications services included the following: Financial: According to the tribal official, in the past few years, the tribe’s  main industry, timber, has not done well, and unemployment rates and  poverty have been above the national average. Many residents cannot  afford telephone service and some of those who are not connected cannot  afford the installation cost to become connected to the current  infrastructure. The tribal official told us that many tribal members cannot  afford a computer or Internet access, and the Internet access that is  available is mostly low-speed dial-up service. The tribal official also said  that the in the past few years, the local service provider had raised its  recurring monthly charges, resulting in an annual bill to the tribe of  $325,000, an increase of $50,000 in annual costs, which was difficult for the  tribal government to afford.
Geographic: While many tribal residents in the more heavily populated  areas have access to telephone service, the tribal official told us that the  tribe’s service provider has not built additional infrastructure to reach less  populated areas and has no plans to do so in the near future. In addition,  the tribal member told us that the service provider had established calling  zones that make calls from one part of the reservation to another long  distance. This has increased the cost of telephone service for both  residents and the tribal government.
Lack of Tribal Technical Capacity: The tribal official stated that the tribe  does not have a sufficient number of technically knowledgeable tribal  members to develop and maintain needed telecommunications systems.
section_title: Approaches
paragraphs: The Yakama Nation is addressing these barriers by developing its own  telecommunications system that will provide wireless telephone service  and high-speed Internet access to the tribal government and the community  at large. The tribal official told us that seven years ago, the tribe determined  that it could improve telecommunications services by forming its own  company, offering telecommunications services to tribal residents and  tribal businesses as well as other homes and businesses, both on and off  tribal lands. This official also said the tribe has developed a business plan  to receive its license from the state of Washington to operate as a  competitive local exchange carrier, allowing it to sell its services. The tribal  official told us the system will improve education by providing high-speed  Internet access to tribal schools and offer residents greater access to jobs  and business opportunities. The tribal official also told us that although the  system is not yet complete, the Yakama Tribal Government buildings are  now connected to each other through a Local Area Network (LAN) and  have high-speed Internet access. This level of service has reduced the fees  the tribe pays to the local service provider, allowing the tribe to increase  the funding available for developing its own telephone telecommunications  system.
To overcome the funding barrier, the tribe put together a long-range plan  that required the tribe to reduce its use of the current provider’s services  and then use the savings to develop its own system. Since 1998, the tribe  has used annual savings from reduced telephone services and funds from  other services to establish a telecommunications company and then  purchase needed equipment. The technically trained tribal member who  headed the planning and development of this system told us that because of  the downturn in the telecommunications sector in the past few years and  the long-range plans the tribe had made, the tribe was able to purchase  surplus fiber at 25 percent of its retail price. In addition, the tribe was also  able to negotiate with a local contractor for installation of the fiber at a  price far below market rates. The tribal official told us that long-range  financial planning and careful budgeting have been important to the tribe’s  success and that infrastructure has been purchased or installed each year  based on what the tribe could afford.
The tribe is addressing its lack of technical capacity in a number of ways.  The tribe has proposed to connect a local university to its  telecommunications system in exchange for technical training. In addition,  the tribe plans to train residents in computer and Internet use at an existing  tribal technology center. The tribal official emphasized that determining  how the tribe could afford the cost of trained staff to manage and maintain  the system once it is operational was a very important part of their  planning. The tribe determined that the system could produce revenue to  pay for technically trained staff and necessary maintenance by offering  wireless telephone and high-speed Internet access to areas adjacent to  tribal lands.
The tribe plans to erect additional towers; offer homes and businesses the  opportunity to purchase equipment to connect to the system; and connect  the tribally-owned system to the public switched network. The tribal  official told us that several locations are available to connect to the public  switched network and they will select the location that offers the tribe the  best price. The tribal official estimates that the system will be complete in 1  to 2 years.
section_title: Eastern Band of Cherokee Partnered with Local Business to Install, Own and Operate Telecommunications Networks for High-Capacity Transmission Services
paragraphs: The Eastern Band of Cherokee, whose tribal lands cover about 82 square  miles in the Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina, has improved  telecommunications infrastructure and services, particularly high-capacity  transmission and Internet-based services, by deploying two fiber networks  -- a tribally-owned fiber-optic ring within the reservation area, and a jointly- owned fiber optic network in three states. To build these networks, Eastern  Band of Cherokee partnered with a local business, provided part of the  funding, and is applying for a USDA RUS loan jointly with their partner  company.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: The Eastern Band of Cherokee’s tribal lands are located about 33 miles  from Asheville, North Carolina, the nearest population center of 50,000 or  more inhabitants. According to the 2000 Census, there were 6,132 Native  Americans living on Eastern Band of Cherokee’s tribal land. The estimated  per capita income for Native Americans on Eastern Band of Cherokee  lands was $12,248, somewhat more than half the national estimate of  $21,587, while the poverty level was 24 percent, 11.6 percent above the  national estimate of 12.4 percent. The unemployment level was 9 percent,  or 3.2 percent above the national unemployment level of 5.8 percent.
section_title: Barrier
paragraphs: Tribal officials told us that the major barrier to improved  telecommunication services the Eastern Band of Cherokee faced was: Geographic: Tribal lands are geographically isolated by the Smokey  Mountains and there is low population density in the area. According to a  tribal telecommunications company official, prices for fiber-optic  transmission networks and high-speed Internet access points are many  times higher than in major metropolitan areas, where such connections are  plentiful and competitively priced. A major contributor to the high cost of  service is the transmission of data. This official said that voice, data, and  Internet traffic from this rural mountain community must be hauled long  distances for aggregation and connection to the national backbones of  telecommunications and Internet service providers. The carriage provided  by the local telephone company is priced at rates that are distance  sensitive, making them some of the highest in the state. However,  according to a tribal official, despite the local provider’s prices, the  provider’s current telecommunications infrastructure on Eastern Band of  Cherokee’s tribal lands is out of date and malfunctions frequently, causing  interruptions in service.
section_title: Approach
paragraphs: To improve access to fiber-optic infrastructure and to lower the cost of  transmission for Internet service providers, as well as for schools,  hospitals, rural clinics, government agencies and residents on tribal lands,  the tribe constructed two fiber-optic networks. The first is a network that  provides access within the reservation; the second is a network that  provides an interconnecting network through parts of three states and is  referred to as a middle-mile network. According to one of the tribal  telecommunications company officials we interviewed, the middle-mile  network is a very high-capacity network that can move large amounts of  information at high speeds with plenty of capacity for future growth. This  official told us that to deploy this middle-mile network, the tribe partnered  with a private firm, one of the largest electronic tax filers in the United  States and one of the largest employers in the region after the tribe.  Together, they formed a joint venture company to construct, own, and  operate the network. The company official also told us that the joint venture company leases dark fiber  and also operates as a certificated  competitive local exchange carrier and interexchange carrier in three  states. The networks support very high capacities for real-time, interactive  applications such as three-dimensional modeling and simulation. The  company also offers open access to its dark fiber on short-term and long- term leases (up to 20 years) to any requesting entity and sells its fiber and  services at rates pegged to the wholesale rates being charged in large  metropolitan areas.
The company official stated that system deployment began in September,  2003, with completion expected by the end of 2005 and will consist of about  257 miles of underground fiber optic cable. A tribal official told us the tribe  wanted to help attract new businesses to the area as well as help existing  companies modernize and expand. Of equal importance to the tribe are  improvements and enhancements in government services, health care and  education, and residential Internet access. A telecommunications company  official told us the joint venture has already begun providing wide-area data  and Internet transmission services for a four-site hospital system in the  area, greatly reducing the hospital system’s costs and providing throughput  speeds of only 6 seconds for transmission of x-ray images between sites.
Officials of the tribe and the company told us that the tribe will use its  ownership in these networks and future planned deployment of cable and  wireless infrastructure to ensure that all residents of tribal lands can  receive high-speed Internet, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), and other  information and content applications at costs and quality levels  comparable to or better than metropolitan areas. The tribe is currently  planning facilities and programs for computer training laboratories for  tribal members to learn about computers, networks, and the Internet, and  is also planning for workforce retraining programs.
section_title: The Mescalero Apache Purchased the Local Telecommunications Company and Improved Services Using RUS Loans
paragraphs: The Mescalero Apache reservation covers 719 square miles and is located  in south eastern New Mexico. The Mescalero Apache addressed their  telecommunications issues by purchasing the local telephone company  with the help of RUS loans and developing initiatives to improve the tribe’s  technical capacity to provide telephone service and high-speed Internet  access.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: According to the 2000 Census, there were 2,932 Native American residents  living on Mescalero Apache land. The estimated per capita income for  Native American residents was $7,417, slightly more than one-third the  national estimate of $21,587, while the level of poverty was 37 percent,   24.6 percent above the national estimate of 12.4 percent. The  unemployment level was 17 percent, 11.2 percent above the national  unemployment level of 5.8 percent.
section_title: Barriers
paragraphs: According to tribal officials, before the Mescalero Apache purchased the  local telecommunications company, the tribes’ major barriers to improving  telecommunications service included the following:  Geographic: The size of the reservation makes the deployment of wireline  infrastructure expensive and the small number of tribal residents limits the  ability of the service providers to recoup their investment. Tribal officials  told us that the former local service provider was unwilling to upgrade the  telecommunications network on the Mescalero Apache reservation to  provide high-quality voice or data services.
Lack of Tribal Technical Capacity: In 1995, the tribal Council passed a  resolution stating the tribe’s intention to purchase the former telephone  service provider’s network. However, the tribe did not have a sufficient  base of technically knowledgeable tribal members to operate the former  provider’s telephone network.
section_title: Approaches
paragraphs: To overcome these barriers, the tribal government purchased the former  wireline service provider’s network on the reservation. The tribal  government then formed the company, Mescalero Apache  Telecommunications, Inc. (MATI), to develop this network to provide  higher quality telecommunications services than previously available. MATI  then rebuilt the network by installing more than 1,000 route miles of fiber  optic cable to provide high-speed Internet access as well as local and long  distance telephone service. According to a MATI official, telephone and  high-speed Internet access are now nearly universally available within the  reservation and Gigabit Ethernet, which is nearly 1,000 times faster than  DSL, has been deployed to the Mescalero casino. In addition, this MATI  official told us that the number of residential telephone subscribers on the  Mescalero Apache tribal lands has increased from 10 per cent to 97 percent  since these improvements were made to the network.
To address the geographic issue, the MATI official said that the tribal  government instructed MATI to focus on providing services to the  reservation rather than maximizing profit, which could limit investment in  services.
Additionally, MATI utilizes various approaches to improve its technical  capacity to offer higher quality services. Specifically, it developed strategic  relationships and training to improve the staff’s technical capabilities to  operate telecommunications technologies. For example, the MATI official  told us that when MATI was starting to provide service, MATI was able to  borrow a switch from a manufacturer. Currently, MATI has an agreement  with a VoIP equipment manufacturer to deliver voice calls over the  Internet. This agreement has allowed MATI to begin to deploy this  technology to customers outside the reservation over a shared spectrum  wireless network. The MATI official said that this relationship has also  allowed MATI to train their personnel on the use of this equipment.
The MATI official also told us that MATI created a technical mentoring  program to build tribal telecommunications capacity. Although about half  of MATI’s staff consists of non-tribal members, tribal officials expect to hire  more tribal members as they receive technical training and non-tribal  members retire. Newer tribal staff are paired with experienced non-tribal  staff for the purpose of learning telecommunications technologies. The  MATI official said that the goal is to create a self-sufficient tribal knowledge  base to understand and operate the telecommunications network. This  official said that MATI’s development of its technical capabilities has also  allowed it to offer technical consulting services to other tribes that are  interested in providing their own telecommunications network. For  example, Coeur d’Alene tribal officials told us that they plan to use MATI  staff to train some of their telecommunications staff and increase the  tribe’s technical capacity to operate a telecommunications network. The  MATI official also told us that MATI hosts an annual telecommunications  conference for tribes and municipal governments to inform them about the  basics of telecommunications finance and technology.
section_title: The Oglala Sioux Partnered With a Wireless Provider to Create Competition and Increase Telephone Subscribership
paragraphs: Oglala Sioux lands cover approximately 3,150 square miles and are located  in southwestern South Dakota. To improve telecommunications services  on their tribal lands, the Oglala Sioux partnered with Western Wireless  Corporation (now merged with Alltel), a wireless service provider, to offer  wireless phone service on their lands in competition with the wireline  provider. According to tribal and Western Wireless officials, access to the  Universal Service High Cost Fund and Enhanced Link-Up and Lifeline  programs allows Western Wireless to recover some infrastructure  deployment costs and offer discounted telephone service to residents of  the Oglala Sioux’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: The Oglala Sioux tribal lands are located in southwestern South Dakota,  about 80 miles south of Rapid City, South Dakota, the nearest population  center of 50,000 or more inhabitants. According to the 2000 Census, 14,334  Native Americans were living on these tribal lands. The estimated per  capita income for Native Americans was $5,624, slightly more than one- quarter the national estimate of $21,587, while the poverty level was 55  percent, more than 40 percent above the national estimate of 12.4 percent.  The unemployment level was 37 percent, or 32.2 percent above the national  unemployment level of 5.8 percent.
section_title: Barriers
paragraphs: According to tribal and industry officials, the tribe’s major barriers to  improved telecommunications services included the following: Financial: According to a tribal official, tribal members have limited  financial resources to purchase telecommunications services. Census data  indicate that the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is one of the most  economically distressed tribal lands in the United States. Over one half the  population falls below the federal poverty line while unemployment is  more than six times the national estimate.
Geographic: The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is geographically isolated  and has a low population density, which according to the tribal official, has  limited the number of companies interested in providing  telecommunications services. According to the 2000 Census,  approximately 14,000 Oglala Sioux were living on the 3,150 square mile  reservation, an area about one and half times the size of Delaware. The  tribal official also told us that geographic isolation of the Pine Ridge Indian  Reservation also meant that it was difficult for tribal members to reach  public safety services when traveling through remote areas of the  reservation.
section_title: Approaches
paragraphs: To overcome these barriers, the Oglala Sioux partnered with a wireless  service provider to offer wireless phone service to residents of the Pine  Ridge Indian Reservation. The Oglala Sioux Tribe and the wireless provider  signed a service agreement to formalize this partnership. The agreement  defined the provider’s responsibilities to provide wireless phone service  and the tribe’s responsibilities and rights to advertise the service and  receive leasing fees for the wireless towers on its land.
According to a tribal official and provider officials, the key to deploying  wireless service on the Pine Ridge reservation was the provider’s ability to  access federal universal service funds to subsidize its network costs (High  Cost fund) and offer discounted telephone service (Enhanced Link-Up and  Lifeline). In order to access these funds, the provider, with consent from  the Oglala Sioux Tribe, applied for and received an eligible  telecommunications carrier (ETC) designation from FCC in 2001. This  enabled the provider to access High Cost funds as well as the Enhanced  Link-Up and Lifeline programs, which lower the costs of telephone service  for low-income customers.
The provider deployed several towers in diverse areas of the reservation to  provide wide-spread coverage. The tribe also worked with the provider to  create an expanded local calling area for its customers that included all  areas of the reservation as well as Rapid City, South Dakota. According to a  tribal official, the addition of Rapid City as part of the local calling area was  an important cost-saving measure for the tribe because a significant  number of Oglala Sioux live in the Rapid City area.
A tribal official told us that wireless telephone service has improved public  safety and the general quality of telecommunications service on the Pine  Ridge reservation. According to tribal and provider officials, tribal  members can reach public safety services, such as 911, from nearly any  location on the reservation. According to a tribal official, this is particularly  important due to the summer and winter temperature extremes on the  reservation. The wireline service provider officials also noted that the  wireless provider’s presence as a competitor has helped to sharpen their  focus on providing high-quality services. A tribal official told us that the  wireless provider initially anticipated having about 300 customers on  Oglala Sioux tribal lands, but had about 4,000 customers within 1 year of  offering service.
section_title: The Navajo Nation is Addressing Telecommunications Barriers by Streamlining Tribal Government Processes, Encouraging Competition, and Emphasizing Wireless Technologies
paragraphs: The Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe and tribal land in  the United States. According to the 2000 Census, the Navajo Nation covers  over 24,000 square miles, an area roughly the size of West Virginia, and  extends into the states of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. To improve  telecommunications on their lands, the Navajo are streamlining the tribal  rights-of-way process to aid service providers; encouraging competition in  order to improve prices and service quality; and emphasizing wireless  technologies better suited to the geography of the tribal land.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: The Navajo Nation’s tribal lands are not located near any major  metropolitan area. According to the 2000 Census, 176,256 Native  Americans were living on Navajo tribal lands. The estimated per capita  income for Native Americans on Navajo lands was $6,801, less than one- third the national estimate of $21,587, while the poverty level was 44  percent, 31.6 percent above the national estimate of 12.4 percent. The  unemployment level was 26 percent, or 21.2 percent above the national  unemployment level of 5.8 percent.
Several telecommunications providers, both wireline and wireless, serve  the Navajo Nation; however, not all areas within the reservation have  access to voice or data service. Two providers provide high-speed Internet  connectivity on parts of the reservation. One of them offers DSL to  households at various places on the reservation. However, an official from  this company noted that DSL works best if deployed within 15,000 feet of  the central office, while many residents live beyond the 15,000-foot limit.  The other provider offers high-speed Internet connections through satellite  at 110 Navajo Nation chapter houses. However, one tribal official told us  that the tribal chapter house connections are not financially sustainable in  the long term. All three states (Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah) granted a  library designation to the 110 chapter houses, and all chapter houses were  approved by USAC for library E-rate funds. This official also stated that the  tribe uses E-rate funds to pay for about 85 percent of the annual $3 million  cost for satellite connectivity. However, the official told us that the tribe  must pay the remaining 15 percent of the cost, or about $450,000, and that  Navajo officials consider this amount to be a high cost.
section_title: Barriers
paragraphs: According to tribal officials, the tribe’s major barriers to improving  telecommunications services include the following: Geographic: Geographic isolation has increased the cost of providing  service on Navajo lands and limited the number of companies interested in  providing telecommunications services. The distances needed to connect  communities and homes with copper wires or fiber optic cable make  wireline telecommunications systems expensive. For example, the tribe  estimated in 1999 that it cost about $5,000 to connect a new wireline  subscriber. The installation of wireless infrastructure is also expensive due  to the vast network of towers and power access needed to relay signals  around the rugged landscape. Service providers have told us the cost of  deploying telecommunications infrastructure on Navajo lands impedes the  provision of services.
Rights-of-way: According to tribal officials, several factors combine to  make obtaining rights-of-way across Navajo trust lands difficult, and serve  as deterrents to extending and improving the tribe’s telecommunications  infrastructure. Both service provider and tribal officials told us that the  tribal government’s process for approving rights-of-way across trust lands  is time-consuming and expensive. In addition, tribal officials told us that  obtaining approval of rights-of-way from BIA across Indian allotments  within tribal boundaries can also be very time-consuming and expensive  because ownership of these lands has been divided among a large number  of heirs, and at least 51 percent of the heirs must approve any change in the  status of the land. In some cases, the location of many of these heirs is  unknown.
section_title: Approaches
paragraphs: To address these barriers and improve telecommunications services on the  reservation, tribal leaders formed the Navajo Nation Telecommunications  Regulatory Commission (NNTRC). The Navajo Nation requires service  providers to supply the NNTRC with information about their intended  service areas, service offerings, and network buildout plans. This  information allows the NNTRC to review providers’ plans for providing  services and then holds them accountable for fulfilling those plans. The  NNTRC encourages providers to attend hearings to comment on the  barriers they encounter to providing telecommunications services. As a  result, the NNTRC works with the service providers to reduce or remove  barriers.
The NNTRC is addressing geographic barriers by encouraging providers to  deploy wireless telecommunications systems that are more appropriate for  the Nation’s large geographic area. NNTRC is also addressing the cost of  services on the Navajo Nation by encouraging multiple providers to offer  services, thus creating competition. NNTRC officials told us that  competition is the best method to lower prices and improve services.  Currently, NNTRC works with wireless companies to encourage them to  extend their service throughout the Navajo Nation. Officials from wireless  companies serving and seeking to serve the Navajo Nation told us that  access to universal service program funds combined with their use of less  costly wireless technologies provides a viable business case for their entry  onto Navajo lands.
Tribal officials told us that the NNTRC drafted a rights-of-way policy that  includes new procedures to make the tribe’s process for approving rights- of-way more efficient and timely for service providers. According to a  Navajo official, this policy is currently being reviewed for approval by  several of their tribal government departments. Following this approval  process, NNTRC intends to implement this policy.
section_title: Comments from the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs
section_title: Comments from the Institute of Museum and Library Services
section_title: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments
subsections: section_title: GAO Contact
section_title: Acknowledgments
paragraphs: In addition to the contact named above, Carol Anderson-Guthrie and John  Finedore, Assistant Directors; Edda Emmanuelli-Perez, Michele Fejfar,  Logan Kleier, Michael Mgebroff, John Mingus, Mindi Weisenbloom,  Alwynne Wilbur, Carrie Wilks, and Nancy Zearfoss made key contributions  to this report.