![]() ![]() It was awarded to hundreds of federally recognized Native American tribes and encompasses tens of thousands of square miles, and millions of members. To stop the gap between the haves and have nots from widening further, the FCC offered the EBS spectrum in 2020. Nokia is extending private wireless to parts of North and South Dakota, Oklahoma and California. As schools, universities and businesses closed and local clinics became overwhelmed by patients seeking care, the need for robust connectivity was acutely felt. The situation further worsened after the COVID-19 pandemic. “A lot of people can't afford the initial start-up costs and are unable to proceed forward and even if somehow they are able to do that, on most occasions they’re always behind owing,” said Fred McLaughlin, General Manager of Standing Rock Telecommunications. ![]() Private wireless, which relies on 4.9G/LTE technology will give homes and businesses access to broadband internet and mobile phone options in areas where coverage is minimal or absent.įor decades, the tribal communities had to rely on obsolete dial-up connection or use mobile phones that usually came tied with costly data plans since it was not possible to meet the upfront costs that service providers sought to put up infrastructure. Nokia’s rapid and cost-effective broadband connectivity such as 4.9G/LTE and 5G can cover large expanses and, that too, from a single base station. The first tranche of deployments will cover 12,000-plus square miles and provide broadband to more than 15,000 tribal members. The indigenous communities that are set to benefit from this endeavour include the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North and South Dakota and the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes in Oklahoma. It is being done in partnership with NewCore Wireless, a company that provides innovative technology solutions to rural carriers. The program will serve tribal lands with a license for broadband and wireless networking buildouts and Nokia is playing its part by extending next generation private wireless to parts of North and South Dakota, Oklahoma and California. However, efforts are underway to address the issue by using the Tribal Educational Broadband Service (EBS) spectrum that leverages the frequency band 117 megahertz (MHz). A case in point are remote tribal nations in the United States that have struggled with unreliable internet connectivity for years with no relief in sight.Īccording to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2020, some 628,000 tribal households in the country did not have access to standard broadband. At an age when high-speed internet has become the driving force behind education, healthcare, business and commerce, there are those who have been left stranded on the other side of the digital divide, unable to conduct even the basic tasks online. ![]()
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