Navajo Nation Seeks Tribal Window in Future Auctions
Buu Nygren, president of the Navajo Nation, urged FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to make a tribal priority window part of future FCC auctions of AWS and upper C-band spectrum. “The success of the 2.5 GHz Rural Tribal Priority Window has…
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demonstrated the transformational impact of policies that provide direct spectrum access to Tribal Nations,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 13-185. The 2.5 GHz window, established under Republican Chairman Ajit Pai’s “leadership in 2020, was an unprecedented federal policy that enabled over 300 federally recognized tribes to obtain spectrum in rural areas,” Nygren said. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance asked the FCC to add questions on tribal windows to the C-band notice of inquiry and AWS-3 NPRM before commissioners, both set for votes Thursday (see 2502060062). “One of the great challenges in addressing the lack of modern communications technologies that Tribal Nations and the Commission face together in their joint efforts to address their broadband challenges is the lack of access to spectrum and spectrum licensing opportunities,” said a filing posted Friday. The 2.5 GHz window “dramatically increased the number of Tribal Nations holding spectrum licenses from 18 to at least 319.”