AIPI Policy Review: Barriers and Challenges for Tribal Access to Broadband Internet

According to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) 2018 Broadband Deployment Report, an estimated 35 percent of residents of Tribal landsi lacked access to broadband speeds at 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload (25 Mbps/3 Mbps)ii, which is the U.S. standard. Comparatively, the majority of the U.S. population has access to high-speed broadband at or above the standard with just 8 percent without a broadband connectioniii. Since the early 2000’s, Tribes have lagged behind the rest of the U.S. in access to telecommunications services, both telephone and internet; this is exemplative of the digital divide on Tribal lands.