FCC Approves Broadband Funding For Navajo, Hopi Reservations

The Federal Communications Commission authorized over 21-million dollars in funding Monday, that spans over the next decade, to expand broadband to nearly five-thousand unserved rural Arizona homes and businesses on Tribal lands. NTUA Wireless will be the provider of the service to areas of Apache, Navajo and Coconino counties on the Navajo and Hopi reservations that haven’t been able to have access to the internet before. The funding is part of the Connect American Fund. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai says the service will give people living on the reservations the tools to be on the “right side of the digital divide and give them access to 21st century opportunities that broadband offers.” At least 40-percent of the homes and business must have service within three years and must increase 20-percent in each subsequent year, according to the funding.