Last updated: March 6, 2024, 9:16 AM | Publication date: March 6, 2024
The National Telecommunications Information Administration transmits this information as follows:
Pawhuska, Oklahoma – On Monday, March 4, 2024, Biden-Harris Administration officials joined Osage Nation Ministry Wazaze Connect and the Oklahoma Broadband Authority to celebrate the groundbreaking of an infrastructure project that will provide high-speed internet to Osage Nation communities.
At Wakon Iron Hall in Pawhuska, officials celebrated the start of $40.6 million in construction work funded through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program.
The program is part of the Biden-Harris administration’s “Internet for All” initiative, which aims to ensure everyone in the United States has access to reliable, affordable, high-speed internet. The project will install more than 320 miles of high-speed fiber optic cable and install 16 fixed Wi-Fi towers across the Osage Nation. This project will directly connect more than 3,000 unserved households in the Osage Nation.
“Today, we broke ground on a project to install fiber optic cable and build wireless towers to directly connect more than 3,000 unserved households in the Osage Nation.” Alan Davidson, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, said: “This $40 million project will expand access to education and health care, support smart technology for agriculture, and create construction and broadband jobs.”
“High-speed internet is like water.” said Tom Perez, a senior adviser to President Biden. “This is a critical public necessity, and it must be affordable and accessible to everyone. That’s why the Biden-Harris Administration will continue to support communities across the country, especially those in rural areas and the Osage Nation that have been so often left behind. We have invested $90 billion to ensure that tribal nations can connect to the pipeline of opportunity that a reliable internet provides.”
“This will change our community for the better on many levels, including education, social connections, health services, and collaboration with our community and communities around the world.” Chief Jeffrey Standing Bear said.
About the project
The NTIA Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program project, funded by the bipartisan Infrastructure Act and Consolidated Appropriations Act, is an internet infrastructure project along the western boundary of the Osage Nation, running from the Arkansas River Bridge east of Ponca City to the highway. is supported. His 18th intersection with Highway 60, just north of Fairfax. Pawhuska Indian Camp is his second project in this phase and includes the construction of fiber optics for residents. The third project includes Osage Nation government facilities in Pawhuska, including an Osage Nation fitness center, domestic violence shelter, and a newly renovated visitor center.
This next phase marks the completion of the necessary environmental and historic preservation analyses, including assessments of risks to land, air, and water, endangered species, and risks to human health. The Office of Historic Preservation also conducted a survey and identified potential under-construction archaeological sites, burial grounds, and areas of historical significance to the Osage Nation.
The next series of broadband expansion projects will include expansion from Pawfuska to Bartlesville, the City of Fairfax and the eastern border to the new Primary Residential Treatment Center. Also included is a route from Pawhuska to Hominy in Skiatok Tulsa. Also for Barnsdall, Avant, and Sperry. Internet service will be provided by Osage Innovative Solutions LLC as “Osage Broadband” and will initially be available at Pawhuska and Fairfax Senior Housing.
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