Hoopa Valley Tribe
Acorn Wireless is the Wireless Internet Service Provider owned and operated by the Hoopa Valley Public Utilities District (HVPUD) that was launched in 2020 with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding. It provides service to 150 customers using a microwave backhaul. The Hoopa Valley’s remote 92,000-acre reservation has one of the largest land bases in California, with dense foliage and difficult terrain, making connectivity particularly challenging. In 2020, Hunter Communications received an $8.2 million grant from the California Advanced Services Fund for the Hoopa Valley Broadband Initiative (HVBI), working in conjunction with the Hoopa Valley Tribe and HVPUD to deploy hybrid fiber and wireless middle-mile and last-mile infrastructure. The HVBI project funded the construction of a 105-foot tower on Sugar Pine Mountain on tribal trust land. The Hoopa Valley Tribe has previously connected 41 tribal departments with dark fiber, with the ultimate goal of building a FTTH network on the reservation.
Read news coverage of Hoopa Valley’s Broadband Initiative here and their efforts to apply for the 2.5 GHz spectrum license here.