Nez Perce Tribe
The Nez Perce Tribe operates a fixed wireless and Fiber-to-the-Home network that serves between 1500 and 2000 customers. Nez Perce’s broadband networks began as efforts to better connect government offices, deploying fiber in Lapwai, Idaho where tribal headquarters are located in 2000. Nez Perce Networks began serving home and business customers in 2010, after using funding from the Idaho Gem Grant Program with a USDA Community Connect grant to deploy a few towers to provide wireless connectivity. In addition to Community Connect and Gem Grants, the Nez Perce tribe pursued grant funding from the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), the USDA Rural Business Development Grant, state of Idaho CARES ACT and the Idaho Broadband Grant. The tribe built a wireless ring around the reservation with 23 towers and co-located facilities on 12 additional towers. The wireless network they have built uses both licensed and unlicensed spectrum and they were awarded the licensed spectrum they applied for under the Tribal Priority Window for 2.5GHz spectrum. In 2020 the Nez Perce Tribe funded 21 miles of middle-mile fiber from Spaulding, Idaho to Clarkston, Washington and allows private entities to lease this fiber and earn revenue. With a State of Idaho CARES Act grant, the tribe is expanding FTTH service to another 300 homes.
Listen to Danae Wilson, Manager of the Department of Technology Services for the Nez Perce Tribe, to discuss broadband in tribal communities and FirstNet emergency services here.
Read about Wilson’s efforts to build the network here and an in-depth case study in “Building Indigenous Future Zones: Four Tribal Broadband Case Studies” (ILSR 2021).