Tribal Broadband Experts Stress Long-Term Strategies to Expand Access
Tribal broadband experts stressed during a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday the importance of building networks that serve the community’s long-term interests rather than focusing on short-term profits. Panelists also highlighted the growing significance of fiber networks and data centers in advancing tribal digital sovereignty and economic development.
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Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Tribal Broadband Director Rob Griffin emphasized a key shift in broadband priorities, calling latency "the new currency.”
“Everyone has been quite focused on speed and download bandwidth capability," he said. "But applications, especially AI in the future, are going to be driven by latency to give a user a real-time immersive experience that everyone is looking for.”
There are still many challenges to connecting tribal communities, Griffin said. "If you live on a tribal reservation, you are only getting access to reliable, affordable connectivity 70% of the time," so collaboration and tribal consent are key to identifying solutions.
Isak Finer, COS Systems' chief revenue officer, highlighted the benefits of open access fiber networks, pointing to the Southern Ute tribe’s project as a prime example. “They wanted competition,” Finer explained. “They didn’t want a single provider that could dictate pricing on their network.” Instead, customers buy services through multiple ISPs that compete for their business. “We’ve seen subscribers move from one ISP to another,” he added. “It gives them flexibility.”
There are still notable differences between fixed wireless technology and fiber networks, said Mike Edl, vice president of network operations at Bonfire Infrastructure Group. “Fixed wireless is great nowadays; it’s not a bad technology. But it’s not fiber,” he said: “There will be more upgrades needed over time, [and] fiber is an asset that will last into the future.”
Panelists also discussed the role of data centers on tribal lands, given the rise of AI and big tech investment. Keith Ponton, Arcadis' director of global telecoms and media cabinet leader, outlined the three main factors driving data center development. “One is fiber, high-speed, low-latency connectivity," he said: "The second is available land and community support. Not everyone wants to live beside something that looks like an Amazon distribution center." The third is "low-cost and ideally renewable energy to power the data center.”
Ponton noted that energy costs are crucial for data center profitability. “The availability of green energy, including options like small modular nuclear, can be a key dimension.” A data center on tribal land can serve as a gateway to big tech interconnects, while also allowing tribes to fully control where sensitive data is stored, he said.
Panelists welcomed the growing prevalence of tribal broadband projects. "Tribal internet service providers will start to become more competitive in their regions and improve over time," Griffin said. Finer emphasized the value of tribal sovereignty and workforce development. “Open access networks make sense because you stay in control of ownership and can dictate the rules,” he said: “You can require local staff to be trained without building all the competency from scratch.”
Bonfire's Edl noted the importance of accounting for ongoing operational costs. “Fixed wireless equipment has to be replaced regularly." Fiber network equipment, however, requires upgrades and support fees that can be around 20% of the retail cost each year, he said. "These are ongoing expenses that must be planned for."
Ponton also called for sustainability and greater community partnership. “These projects have to be built with the community, not any other way,” he said: “You must ensure knowledge and skills are transferred and the network is economically sustainable."