The fort belknap indian tribes (tribe) is seeking grant funding under the tribal broadband connectivity program (program) administered by the national telecommunications and information administration…

The fort belknap indian tribes (tribe) is seeking grant funding under the tribal broadband connectivity program (program) administered by the national telecommunications and information administration (ntia) because the deployment of broadband infrastructure by the tribe in eligible areas on the fort belknap reservation (reservation) and in surrounding off-reservation trust lands will help to meet an urgent need to bring advanced broadband services to tribal households in these communities. The reservation is in the state of montana. The reservation is comprised of reservation and off-reservation trust land, comprising of approximately 652,000 acres near the community ofharlem, montana, and has a tribal population of 5,158 enrolled members of which 3,476 live on the reservation. To identify the coverage of our reservation, tribal members from across the reservation were surveyed and interviewed to learn the current broadband capabilities being offered by the current internet service provider (ISP). The surveys and reviews were conducted by the engineering, architecture, and feasibility study team from SPY EGO media LLC and the local tribal members. SPY EGO media conducted a full review of existing incumbents' infrastructure and found multiple locations with fiber in poor and severely degraded conditions. Based on the current condition of the existing infrastructure by the incumbent provider, the tribes goal for this build out will not be to RIP and replace or upgrade the existing infrastructure, but to run new infrastructure to offer highspeed, affordable, and reliable services to the reservation that will be owned and maintained by the tribe and by tribal members. The ability of the tribes educational systems to operate remotely is nearly non-existent with the current infrastructure. Educational facilities continue to struggle with enabling remote learning. When the tribes schools are closed due to medical necessity or environmental emergencies, they cannot offer classes to children because the internet service cannot support online classes. Many children are unable to access online resources and participate in remote learning programs due to the reasons described above. This situation has led to very concerning educational gaps and has hindered the tribe since well before the outset of the pandemic. These schools support children from the fort belknap indian community and as well as off-reservation children. Tribal members and tribal businesses have also been especially vulnerable due to inadequate broadband connectivity. The lack of qualifying broadband has prevented members from attaining remote work and significantly hindered businesses from competing in digital marketplaces. The broadband situation has been a major obstacle preventing economic growth. Vital services such as police, fire, and medical are inadequately equipped with the current connectivity infrastructure and broadband access. All issues experienced by other patrons are also experienced by these vital services as well. The challenges associated with the current broadband situation prevents fbic from robustly responding to emergent scenarios. The lack of reliability and highspeed broadband also limits telemedicine access which is critically needed.