Native Groups Want Stronger Engagement on Broadband Deployment, They Tell FCC
Eligible telecom carriers must enhance engagement with tribal communities to address challenges deploying broadband there, Gila River Telecommunications Inc. (GRTI) told the FCC. Comments were posted through Friday in docket 10-90. GRTI said "the time for discussing whether broadband will…
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be delivered to Indian Country must end. The next phase of engagement must focus on the development of concrete plans for each tribal community to gain broadband access." It recommends elevating the Office of Native Affairs and Policy to a separate office independent of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and having it report directly to the chairman and commissioners. GRTI wants ONAP to develop a voluntary process to engage tribal governments and ETCs with service areas including tribal lands that haven't deployed broadband to determine when it makes sense for tribal governments to take an ownership stake in the ETC. The Alaska Rural Coalition asked the FCC to answer its 2011 petition for reconsideration on "unique challenges facing Alaska carriers." It wants the FCC to allow carriers to substitute informal engagement with strategic performance benchmarks, as "formal outreach [hasn't] proven particularly effective." USTelecom has legal concerns about members' First Amendment rights and a current requirement ETCs market their services "in a culturally sensitive manner," which can interfere with effective dialogue. The Oceti Sakowin Tribal Utility Authority said the tribal engagement process "is currently form over substance." The National Tribal Telecommunications Association wants additional enforcement of the tribal engagement rule.