Last Updated on March 6, 2024, 3:22 PM | Published: March 6, 2024
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration sends this information as posted below:
Pawhuska, OK – On Monday, March 4, 2024, Biden-Harris Administration officials joined Osage Nation Department Wahzhazhe Connect and the Oklahoma Broadband Office to celebrate breaking ground on an infrastructure project to deliver high-speed internet to communities in Osage Nation.
At Wakon Iron Hall in Pawhuska, officials marked the beginning of a $40.6 million construction effort funded through the National Telecommunication Information Administration (NTIA) Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program.
The program is part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Internet for All initiative which aims to ensure that everyone in America has access to reliable affordable high-speed internet. The project will build out more than 200 miles of high-speed fiber optic cabling and install 16 towers for fixed wifi throughout Osage Nation. The project will directly connect more than 3,000 unserved Osage Nation households.
“Today we broke ground on a project that will install fiber optic cable and build wireless towers to directly connect more than 3,000 unserved Osage Nation households,” said Alan Davidson, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information. “This $40 million project will expand access to education and health care, support smart technologies for farming, and create construction and broadband jobs.”
“High-speed Internet is like water,” said Senior advisor to President Biden Tom Perez. “It’s a critical public necessity that needs to be affordable and accessible to everyone. That’s why the Biden-Harris Administration has invested $90 billion to ensure communities across the country, especially rural areas and Tribal nations like Osage Nation that have frequently been left behind, are connected to the pipeline to opportunity that reliable internet provides.”
“This will change our community for the better at many different levels, including education, social connection, health services, and cooperation with our community and communities throughout the world,” said Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear.
About the Project
The NTIA Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program project, funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, supports internet infrastructure projects along the western boundary of the Osage Nation, which runs from the Arkansas River Bridge, located east of Ponca City, to the Highway 18 intersection with Highway 60, located just north of Fairfax. Pawhuska Indian Camp is the second project in this phase, which includes construction of fiber-to-the-home for residents. The third project includes Osage Nation government facilities in Pawhuska, including the Osage Nation Fitness Center, the Domestic Violence Shelter, and the newly renovated Visitors Center.
This next phase marks the completion of the required environmental and historic preservation analysis, which included assessment of risk to the land, air, and water, endangered species, and risks to human health. The Office of Historic Preservation conducted the surveys, which also identified potential archeological sites in the path of construction, as well as burial sites, and areas of historical significance to the Osage Nation.
The next set of projects of the broadband buildout includes extending to the eastern boundary, running from Pawhuska to Bartlesville, the City of Fairfax, and the new Primary Residential Treatment Centers. Also included are routes from Pawhuska to Hominy, Skiatook Tulsa. As well as to Barnsdall, Avant, Sperry. Internet service will be provided by the Osage Innovative Solutions LLC as “Osage Broadband”, which will be available first in Pawhuska and Fairfax Senior Housing.
Free Press curates press releases from organizations and people we know to be reputable. If you would like to submit a well-written press release for us to publish on our site, please click the email icon at the top of this page.
