Enhance ONAP Role in Broadband Deployment, FCC Asked; Carr to Visit Tribal Leaders
Stakeholders favor the FCC Office of Native Affairs and Policy encouraging broadband deployment. Smith Bagley Inc. sought to enhance ONAP's role to encourage engagement between eligible telecom carriers and tribal governments, among comments posted Tuesday in docket 10-90. SBI said…
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some tribal governments "have limited economic resources and lack the internal expertise in telecommunications necessary to conduct an assessment and provide feedback in a Tribal engagement process." MuralNet said ONAP must have a budget large enough "to hire sufficient staff to perform Tribal consultation activities, organize workshops, and attend meetings with Tribal leaders in their communities across Indian Country and at conferences." MuralNet supported a recommendation the tribal engagement requirement include Alaska native villages and Alaska tribal health organizations. ETCs need flexibility to meet the agency's tribal engagement obligations, said the Alaska Telecom Association. Clarify what constitutes good documentation and record-keeping on tribal engagement, urged the Montana Telecommunications Association. It wants to avoid appeals or penalties when "a provider believes it has complied with the guidance only to find out after the fact that the provider's documentation does not meet the [Universal Service Administrative Co.'s] interpretation of the guidelines." The Oceti Sakowin Tribal Utility Authority said lack of tribal government comments last month (see 1912060008) shows engagement isn't uniformly effective. OSTUA wants changes including that all carriers serving tribal lands, not just ETCs, engage with tribes. The FCC said Commissioner Brendan Carr plans to visit with Mescalero Apache Telecom and Mescalero Apache Reservation leaders in New Mexico this week.