The Southern Ute Indian Tribe is beginning a project to bring high-speed internet to the reservation. Clark Adomaitis (ADDA-MY-diss) has more.
CLARK: This fall, the tribe will start building a network of fiber optic transmission lines– 298 miles in total. The project will connect almost 1,800 Native American households with high-speed internet service.
JEFF ENGMAN: We want to be affordable, we want it to be of high quality, and we want it to be high speed. And that's, that's what we're driving towards.
CLARK: Jeff Engman is the Chief Information Officer of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe Shared Services.
JEFF ENGMAN: The bulk of the reservation right now is covered by wireless providers. It's not really meeting what we call a modern standard. So 100 megabit speed up, upload and download. And you can't really get that with wireless around here.
CLARK: There are currently no households on the reservation with access to fiber optic connectivity. The new network will allow tribal and non-tribal residents the bandwidth for telecommuting, streaming and use of hardware systems that require highspeed broadband.
$43 million to fund the project comes from bipartisan infrastructure legislation passed in 2021.
For KSUT and KSJD, I’m Clark Adomaitis.