The Bois Forte Band of Chippewa (also referred to as Ojibwe) has officially begun construction on a foundational fiber optic broadband expansion project in northern Minnesota that is poised to bridge the digital divide for thousands of Tribal residents.

The ambitious undertaking is supported by a significant $20 million grant awarded under the 2021 Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, marking a major step forward in modernizing infrastructure for the sovereign nation.

The massive project aims to overhaul the existing connectivity landscape across the Bois Forte Reservation.

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Once completed, the new network will deliver a high-speed, future-proof up to 10 gigabit per second (Gbps) fiber-to-the-home network to over 2,097 largely-underserved Native American households, businesses, and community anchor institutions.

Many Tribal nations were skipped over by past fiber deployments either due to outright hostility to Tribal interests, or a disinterest in the work required to align for-profit deployments with the needs and wishes of what is often multiple Tribal territories.

For Bois Forte, this new fiber network is expected to have a transformative impact across several key sectors, fundamentally improving community access to vital services:

At the New Mexico Infrastructure Finance Conference last week, the Pueblo of Jemez Tribal community was honored with a Project Excellence Award for its broadband project, building out a fiber network to reach more than 670 unserved or underserved households, Tribal departments, programs, and businesses.

In presenting the award, Jeff Lopez, Director of the New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE), highlighted the transformative work the Tribe has been doing since it received an $8.6 million grant for the $15 million project, courtesy of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in Nov. 2023.

In accepting the award on behalf of the work being done by the tribally-owned and operated Internet service provider known as JNET, Governor George Shendo Jr. of Jemez Pueblo, said in a statement:

“We are honored to be recognized by the Department of Finance and Administration for its inaugural broadband Project Excellence Award. We are excited to fully realize all the opportunities our broadband project will bring to current and future generations in Jemez and the surrounding communities.”

Since January of 2024, JNET has been constructing its fiber-to-the home (FTTH) network, building-out more than 45 miles of fiber to date. More than 40 homes have already been lit up for service with the project expected to be finished in 2026.

*The following story by Broadband Breakfast Reporter Jennifer Michel was originally published here.

From August 18-21, the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians will host a four-day Tribal Broadband Bootcamp on the Tribe's Marquette campus in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

The Bootcamp aims to equip Tribal Nations with the skills to build, manage, and expand their own broadband networks. It will be the second held in the Great Lakes region, designed primarily for members of 36 federally recognized Tribes across Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The first Tribal Broadband Bootcamp took place in California in 2021, organized by Matthew Rantanen and Christopher Mitchell, co-founders of the broadband advocacy group Waskawiwin, who hoped to build and encourage nontraditional broadband networks.

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Seventeen bootcamps have occurred since 2021, each with an agenda adjusted to the experiences and interests of hosting Tribes. Overall, the training program has hosted more than 400 participants from more than 70 Tribal Nations across the United States and Canada.

The training program, led by Rantanen and Mitchell, will unite tribal technology staff, community leaders, and broadband advocates for hands-on instruction in network design, deployment and management.

According to Mitchell, the goal of the Bootcamp “is to connect people working in Indian Country on Internet access to build skills and share knowledge on how to make sure everyone is well connected.”

For Angela Diahkah, what started as a self-described “side hustle” is now her full-time job.

Diahkah – or “Ange,” as she sometimes goes by – is five years into serving as Network Operations Supervisor and Digital Navigator Program Manager for JNET, the Tribally-owned broadband provider for the Pueblo of Jemez.

Just 50 miles northwest of Albuquerque, Angela leads the charge in building a new fiber network, the gold-standard of Internet connectivity, that once complete will serve her community (one of the 19 Pueblos in New Mexico).

Last week, she was at the 17th Tribal Broadband Bootcamp (TBB) in Aguana, California in the hills above Temecula Valley, along with a half dozen JNET technicians-in-training and JNET Director Kevin Shendo. The 30 or so other TBB participants – representing broadband leaders from several other federally-recognized Tribes – were also there for the three-day immersive learning experience focused on building and operating Tribal Internet networks.

Held in different tribal regions several times a year since the initiative began in 2021, this most recent bootcamp was back at TBB co-founder Matthew Rantanen’s “RantanenTown Ranch.”

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“We're basically trying to find a light in a dark tunnel and just work with what’s best for us,” Angela told ILSR in describing why she and her JNET crew had come, just as they are in the early stages building out their own fiber-to-the-home network.

“We want to expose them to the network,” literally and figuratively, she said.

Last week, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) announced a new initiative, Seven Star Communities, to highlight the excellent work being done by Native communities to “strengthen self-determination and close the digital divide through sustainable digital inclusion work.”

Over the past few years, ILSR has documented the efforts of record numbers of Native nations to take control of their own digital futures by launching Tribally-owned and controlled broadband projects.

But infrastructure is only part of the story of how Tribes are closing the digital divide in Indian Country. Increasingly, Native nations are also advancing digital inclusion priorities and programs that foreground self-determination and sovereignty.

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Seven Star Communities aims to recognize and amplify these digital equity initiatives while supporting the growth of a vibrant community of Indigenous digital equity practitioners. The initiative was developed in partnership with AMERIND Critical Infrastructure, a Tribally-owned company that supports Tribal broadband deployment, and informed by the expertise of a group of advisors and mentors active in Tribal broadband and digital equity.

Felix McGowan, Director of AMERIND Critical Infrastructure, notes that the initiative recognizes “Native communities who are adapting to the new digital environment. They have been adapting digital inclusion efforts in innovative ways and practicing effective, sustainable self-governance.”

What began as a three-day intensive learning experience focused on building and running Tribal Internet networks has become a can’t-miss gathering of broadband-minded Tribal leaders coming together to “shore up historic disparities in connectivity in Indian Country,” as the Associated Press recently reported.

Followers of this site have likely read or heard about ILSR’s deep involvement in the on-going series of Tribal Broadband Bootcamps (TBB) hosted in different Tribal regions several times a year since the initiative began in 2021. Now, word is spreading far beyond Indian Country.

Last week, the Associated Press shined a spotlight on the most recent bootcamp, which last month was once again convened at the southern California ranch of TBB co-founder Matthew Rantanen.

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The article, authored by AP reporter Kavish Harjai, provides an inside look at the most recent bootcamp, highlighting an aspect of the digital divide often overlooked in a nation that historically has been either hostile towards Indigenous communities or has treated Native Nations with benign neglect:

“More than 1 in 5 homes on tribal lands lack access to adequate broadband, compared to fewer than one in 10 on non-tribal land in 2024.”

“Tribal nations have struggled to connect to the web for a variety of reasons ranging from living in remote locations to lack of investment by [I]nternet service providers. The lack of service has hampered every aspect of 21st century life, from health care and education access to the ability to start a business and stay in touch with friends and family.”

The AP story captures the vision behind the initiative led by Rantanen and ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks program director and TBB co-founder Christopher Mitchell: