Telecommunications: Challenges to Assessing and Improving
Telecommunications for Native Americans on Tribal Lands
(07-MAR-06, GAO-06-513T).
An important goal of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended,
is to ensure access to telecommunications services for all
Americans. This testimony is based on GAO's January 2006 report
GAO-06-189, which reviewed 1) the status of telecommunications
subscribership for Native Americans living on tribal lands; 2)
federal programs available for improving telecommunications on
these lands; 3) barriers to improvements; and 4) how some tribes
are addressing these barriers.
-------------------------Indexing Terms-------------------------
REPORTNUM: GAO-06-513T
ACCNO: A48537
TITLE: Telecommunications: Challenges to Assessing and Improving
Telecommunications for Native Americans on Tribal Lands
DATE: 03/07/2006
SUBJECT: Census
Data collection
Federal aid to localities
Indian lands
Native Americans
Policy evaluation
Population statistics
Surveys
Telecommunication policy
Telecommunications
Telecommunications systems
Telephones
Universal service
1990 Decennial Census
2000 Decennial Census
2010 Decennial Census
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GAO-06-513T
* Background
* Tribal Telephone Subscribership Rate is Substantially Below
* Native Americans Can Benefit from Several General and Tribal
* Multiple Barriers Exist to Improving Telecommunications on T
* Tribes Are Addressing Barriers to Improved Telecommunication
* Summary
* Contact and Acknowledgements
* GAO's Mission
* Obtaining Copies of GAO Reports and Testimony
* Order by Mail or Phone
* To Report Fraud, Waste, and Abuse in Federal Programs
* Congressional Relations
* Public Affairs
Testimony
Before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, U.S. Senate
United States Government Accountability Office
GAO
For Release on Delivery Expected at 10 a.m. EST Tuesday, March 7, 2006
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Challenges to Assessing and Improving Telecommunications for Native
Americans on Tribal Lands
Statement of Mark Goldstein, Director Physical Infrastructure Issues
GAO-06-513T
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Co-Chairman, and Members of the Committee:
I am pleased to be here today to discuss the findings and recommendations
of our January 2006 report, Challenges to Assessing and Improving
Telecommunications for Native Americans on Tribal Lands.1 According to the
2000 Census, about 588,000 Native Americans were residing on tribal
lands.2 Telephone subscribership rates on these lands have historically
lagged behind the overall national rate. In 1990, only 47 percent of
Native American households on tribal lands had telephone service compared
to about 95 percent of households nationally. In our report we discuss: 1)
the current status of telecommunications subscribership for Native
Americans living on tribal lands; 2) federal programs available for
improving telecommunications on these lands; 3) barriers to improvements;
and 4) the ways in which some tribes are addressing these barriers.
To address these issues, we reviewed Census data and interviewed officials
at federal agencies that support telecommunications on tribal lands. We
also interviewed officials representing telecommunications providers and
industry organizations. Additionally, we interviewed officials of 26
tribes in the lower 48 states and 12 Alaska regional native nonprofit
organizations, chosen on the basis of demographics and other factors, such
as actions being taken on their land to improve telecommunications. We
also visited 6 tribal lands to learn more about the challenges the tribal
members were facing, and actions they were taking to improve their
telecommunications services.3 We performed our work in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards from August 2004 to
December 2005. For more information about the methodology used, see our
report, Challenges to Assessing and Improving Telecommunications for
Native Americans on Tribal Lands.
1 GAO-06-189 , (Washington, D.C., Jan. 11, 2006). Available through GAO's
Web site ( www.gao.gov ).
2For our report, GAO defined tribal lands as lands that include any
federally recognized Indian tribe's reservation, off-reservation trust
lands, pueblo, or colony, and Alaska Native regions established pursuant
to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Pub. L. No. 92-203, 85 Stat.
688 (1971) (codified as amended at 43 U.S.C. S:S: 1601 et seq.) Tribal
lands do not include Oklahoma Tribal Statistical Areas, and the population
figure of 588,000 does not include the 325,000 Native Americans living on
OTSAs. The source of the data that GAO used throughout this report was the
Census 2000 American Indian and Alaska Native Summary File. The term
"Native Americans" is used to refer to people who identified themselves as
American Indians and/or Alaska Natives alone or in combination with one or
more races.
3The six tribes are: Coeur D'Alene Tribe of the Coeur D'Alene Reservation,
Idaho; Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington;
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina; Oglala Sioux Tribe of
the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota; Mescalero Apache Tribe of the
Mescalero Reservation, New Mexico; and Navajo Nation in Arizona, New
Mexico, and Utah.
In summary, we found that:
o The most recent census data, from the year 2000, indicate that
the telephone subscribership rate for Native American households
on tribal lands is still substantially below the national rate.
About 69 percent of these households in the lower 48 states had
telephone service, which is about 29 percentage points less than
the national rate of about 98 percent. About 87 percent of Native
American households in Alaska native villages had telephone
service, also considerably below the national rate. We do not know
the rate for Internet subscribership for tribal lands due to a
lack of such data from either the Census Bureau or the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC).
o The Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service and the
FCC have several general programs to improve telecommunications in
rural areas and make service affordable for low-income groups,
which would include tribal lands and their residents. In addition,
FCC created some programs targeted to tribal lands, including
programs to provide discounts on the cost of telephone service to
residents of tribal lands, and financial incentives to encourage
wireless providers to serve tribal lands. However, we found that
FCC is not collecting sufficient data to assess the extent to
which its efforts to increase telecommunications deployment and
subscribership on these lands are succeeding. Also, one of FCC's
programs to support telecommunications for libraries has
legislatively based eligibility rules that preclude tribal
libraries in at least two states from being eligible for this
funding.
o Native American officials, service providers, and others cited
several barriers to improving telecommunications on tribal lands.
The most frequently mentioned were the rural, rugged terrain of
tribal lands and the tribes' limited financial resources. These
barriers increase the costs of deploying infrastructure and limit
the ability of service providers to recover their costs. Other
barriers cited include the shortage of technically trained tribal
members and the service providers' difficulty in obtaining rights
of way to deploy their infrastructure on tribal lands.
o Some tribes are making significant progress in addressing these
barriers. For example, we found that several tribes are moving
toward owning or developing their own telecommunications systems
using federal grants, loans, or partnering with the private
sector. Some are focusing on wireless technologies, which can be
less expensive to deploy over rural rugged terrain. Two tribes of
the six tribes we visited are bringing in wireless carriers to
compete with wireline carriers on price and service. In addition,
some tribes have developed ways to address the need for technical
training, and one tribe we visited has worked to expedite the
tribal decisionmaking process for rights-of-way approvals.
Our report has two matters for congressional consideration. First,
Congress should consider directing FCC to determine what
additional data is needed to help assess progress toward the goal
of providing access to telecommunications service on tribal lands,
including advanced services such as high-speed Internet, and how
this data should collected. Second, Congress should consider
amending the Communications Act of 1934 to facilitate and clarify
the eligibility of tribal libraries for funding under FCC's
telecommunication support program for libraries.
I would now like to present additional detail on the results of
our work.
Tribal lands vary dramatically in size, demographics, and
location, ranging from the Navajo Nation, with 24,000 square miles
and over 176,000 Native American residents, to tribal land areas
in California comprising less than 1 square mile with fewer than
50 Native American residents. Most tribal lands are located in
rural or remote locations, though some are near metropolitan
areas. Also, some tribal lands have a significant percentage of
nonNative Americans residing on them.
Tribes are unique in being sovereign governments within the United
States. Their sovereign status has been established by the U.S.
Constitution, treaties, and other federal actions. To help manage
tribal affairs, tribes have formed governments or subsidiaries of
tribal governments that include schools, housing, health, and
other types of corporations. In addition, the Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA) in the Department of the Interior has a fiduciary
responsibility to tribes and assumes some management
responsibility for all land held in trust for the benefit of the
individual Native American or tribe.
Native American tribes are among the most economically distressed
groups in the United States. According to the 2000 Census, about
37 percent of Native American households had incomes below the
federal poverty level-more than double the rate for the U.S.
population as a whole. Residents of tribal lands often lack basic
infrastructure, such as water and sewer systems, and
telecommunications systems.
The federal government has long acknowledged the difficulties of
providing basic services, such as electricity and telephone
service, to rural areas of the country. The concept of universal
telephone service has its origins in Section 1 of the
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, (Communications Act) which
states that the FCC was created "for the purpose of regulating
interstate and foreign commerce in communication by wire and radio
so as to make available, so far as possible, to all people of the
United States, a rapid, efficient, nationwide, and worldwide wire
and radio communication service with adequate facilities at
reasonable charges . . . ."4 The goal of universal service is to
ensure that all U.S. residents have access to quality telephone
service regardless of their household income or geographic
location. A 1995 report by the Census Bureau based on 1990 census
data noted that about 47 percent of Native American households on
tribal lands had telephone service, compared to about 95 percent
of households nationally.5 In June 2000, the FCC Chairman noted
that telephone subscribership among the rural poor was roughly 20
percent lower than the rest of the nation, while Native Americans
living on tribal lands were only half as likely as other Americans
to subscribe to telephone service.
As of 2000, the telephone subscribership rate for Native American
households on tribal lands had improved since 1990, but was still
substantially below the national rate, while the rate for Internet
subscribership on tribal lands was unknown due to a lack of data.
According to data from the 2000 decennial census, about 69 percent
of Native American households6 on tribal lands in the lower 48
states had telephone service, which was about 29 percentage points
less than the national rate of about 98 percent. About 87 percent
of Native American households in Alaska native villages had
telephone service, also considerably below the national rate.
Telephone subscribership rates for Native American households on
individual tribal lands in 2000 varied widely. A few tribal lands
had rates above the national level, but the majority of them had
rates below the national level. To get a better understanding of
telephone subscribership rates by individual tribe and population
size, we reviewed data for the 25 tribal lands with the highest
number of Native American households. These 25 tribal lands
represent about 65 percent of all Native American households, as
shown in Census 2000 data, and had a range in telephone
subscribership rates from 38 percent for the Navajo Nation
Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land (located in Arizona,
New Mexico, and Utah) to 94 percent for the Turtle Mountain
Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land (located in Montana,
North Dakota, and South Dakota).
While Census data indicate that the average subscribership rate
for Native Americans on tribal lands has increased from about 47
percent of households in 1990 to about 69 percent in 2000, changes
in telephone subscribership rates since the 2000 decennial census
are not known. In order to provide more current data, the U.S.
Census Bureau (Census Bureau) has begun to gather telephone
subscribership data through a new, more frequent survey that will
provide demographic and socioeconomic data on communities of all
sizes, including tribal lands. However, because it will take time
to accumulate a large enough sample to produce data for small
communities, annual reports will not be available for all small
communities, including tribal lands, until 2010.
The rate of Internet subscribership for Native American households
on tribal lands is unknown because neither the Census Bureau nor
FCC collects this data at the tribal level. One survey performed
by the Census Bureau that collects data on Internet subscribership
can provide estimates for the nation as a whole, but the survey's
sample cannot provide reliable estimates of Internet
subscribership on tribal lands. The Census Bureau's new survey
will provide data on tribal lands but does not include a question
on Internet subscribership. Without current subscribership data,
it is difficult to assess progress or the impact of federal
programs to improve telecommunications on tribal lands.
FCC collects data on the deployment of advanced telecommunications
capability in the United States, but this data cannot be used to
determine Internet subscribership rates for tribal lands.7
Pursuant to section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, FCC
is required to conduct regular inquiries concerning the
availability of advanced telecommunications capability for all
Americans. To obtain this data, FCC requires service providers to
report a list of the zip codes where they have at least one
customer of high-speed service. Because the providers are not
required to report the total number of their residential
subscribers in each zip code, because tribal lands do not
necessarily correspond to zip codes, and because these data do not
include information on "dial-up" users (i.e., those who access the
Internet without a broadband connection), these data cannot be
used to determine the number of residential Internet subscribers
on tribal lands. The FCC has recognized that its section 706 data
collection efforts in rural and underserved areas need improvement
to better fulfill Congress' mandate.8
The Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service and FCC
are responsible for several general programs designed to improve
the nation's telecommunications infrastructure and make services
affordable for all consumers, which can benefit tribes and tribal
lands. The Rural Utilities Service has grant, loan, and loan
guarantee programs for improving telecommunications in rural
areas. FCC has several programs (known as "universal service"
programs) to make telephone service more affordable for low-income
consumers and consumers living in areas, such as rural areas,
where the cost to provide service is high.
In addition to these general programs, FCC has recognized the need
to make special efforts to improve tribal telecommunications and
established four programs specifically targeted to improving
telecommunications for residents of tribal lands. The Tribal Land
Bidding Credit program provides financial incentives to wireless
service providers to serve tribal lands. The Indian
Telecommunications Initiative disseminates information to tribes
and tribal organizations on telecommunications services on tribal
lands, including universal service programs and other areas of
interest. Enhanced Link-Up, which provides a one-time discount on
the cost of connecting a subscriber to the telephone network, and
Enhanced Lifeline, which provides ongoing discounts on the cost of
monthly service, provide more support per customer than the
regular Link-up and Lifeline programs. As with FCC's other
universal service programs, the service providers are reimbursed
from FCC's universal service fund for the discounts they give to
the programs' participants.
Regarding Enhanced Lifeline, we found that, at present, data
provided to the program administrator9 from the service providers
can be broken out by state, but not by tribal land, because the
reporting form does not ask service providers to indicate the
number of participants and amount of funding by tribal land.
Because FCC does not have data on program participation and
funding by individual tribal land, some basic questions cannot be
answered: what percentage of residents of particular tribal lands
are benefiting from the programs and how have the participation
rates on individual tribal lands changed over time?
An additional universal service program, known as E-rate, provides
discounts on telecommunications services for schools and libraries
nationwide. One of our key findings is that some tribal libraries
are not eligible to receive E-rate funds because of an issue
involving federal eligibility criteria. The current statutory
provision under the Communications Act does not allow tribal
libraries to obtain E-rate funding for libraries unless the tribal
library is eligible for assistance from a state library
administrative agency under Library Services Technology Act
(LSTA). In at least two cases, tribes have not applied for E-rate
funds because their tribal libraries are not eligible for state
LSTA funds.
Tribal and government officials, Native American groups, service
providers, and others with whom we spoke cited several barriers to
improving telecommunications service on tribal lands. The rural
location and rugged terrain of most tribal lands and tribes'
limited financial resources were the barriers to improved
telecommunications most often cited by the officials of tribes and
Alaska Native Villages we interviewed. Generally, these factors
make the cost of building and maintaining the infrastructure
needed to provide service higher than they would be in urban
settings. For example, more cable per customer is required over
large, sparsely populated areas, and when those areas are
mountainous, it can be more difficult and costly to install the
cable. The Rural Task Force, formed by the Federal-State Joint
Board on Universal Service,10 documented the high costs of serving
rural customers in a report issued in January 2000, which stated
that the average telecommunications infrastructure cost per
customer for rural providers was $5,000, while the average
infrastructure cost per customer for non-rural providers was
$3,000.11 Officials from 17 tribes and 11 Alaska regional native
non-profit organizations we interviewed told us that the rural
location of their tribe is a telecommunications barrier.
Tribes' limited financial resources are also seen as a barrier to
improving telecommunications services on tribal lands. Many tribal
lands-including some of those we visited, such as the Navajo, the
Mescalero Apache, the Yakama, and the Oglala Sioux-have poverty
rates more than twice the national rate, as well as high
unemployment rates. The 2000 U.S. Census showed that the per
capita income for residents on tribal lands was $9,200 in 1999,
less than half the U.S. per capita income of $21,600. Officials of
33 of the 38 Native American entities we interviewed told us that
lack of financial resources was a barrier to improving
telecommunications services.
These two barriers, the rural location of tribal lands (which
increases the cost of installing telecommunications
infrastructure) and tribes' limited financial resources (which can
make is difficult for residents and tribal governments to pay for
services) can combine to deter service providers from making
investments in telecommunications on tribal lands, resulting in a
lack of service, poor service quality, and little or no
competition. For example, a representative of the company that
provides service to the Coeur d'Alene tribe told us that
high-speed Internet was only available in certain areas of the
Coeur d'Alene tribal land and that there were cost issues in
providing this service to the more remote and less densely
populated parts of the reservation. Another provider's
representative told us that providing digital subscriber lines
(DSL)12 to most parts of the Eastern Band of Cherokee's
reservation would not be profitable because the land is rugged and
to connect many of those who live out in remote rural areas would
require an investment that would be difficult to justify.
The third barrier most often cited by tribal officials is a
shortage of technically trained tribal members to plan and
implement improvements on tribal lands. Officials of 13 of the 38
Native American tribes and tribal organizations we interviewed
told us that lack of telecommunications training and knowledge
among tribal members is a barrier to improving their
telecommunications. Some of these officials said they needed more
technically trained members to plan and oversee the implementation
of telecommunications improvements, as well as to manage existing
systems. An official of the Coeur d'Alene tribe, who has technical
training, also told us that tribes without technically trained
staff would be at a disadvantage in negotiating with service
providers. This official added that having tribal members trained
in telecommunications was necessary to ensure that a tribe's
planned improvements included the equipment and technology the
tribe wanted and needed.
A fourth barrier cited by tribal officials and other stakeholders
is the complex and costly process of obtaining rights-of-way for
deploying telecommunications infrastructure on tribal lands, which
can impede service providers' deployment of telecommunications
infrastructure. In part, this is because BIA must approve the
application for a right-of-way across Indian lands and to obtain
BIA approval, service providers are required to take multiple
steps and coordinate with several entities during the application
process.
From our interviews of officials of 26 tribes and 12 Alaska
regional native non-profit organizations, we found that 22 are
addressing the need to improve their telecommunications services
by developing or owning part, or all, of their own local
telecommunications network. Some of those we spoke to told us that
they were doing this because their provider was unwilling to
invest in improved telecommunications services, in part due to the
barriers of the tribe's rural location, rugged terrain, and
limited financial resources. An additional 10 tribes told us that
they have considered or are considering owning part or all of
their telecommunications systems.
The tribes we visited are using federal grants, loans, or other
assistance, long-range planning, and private-sector partnerships
to help improve service on their lands. In addition, some tribes
have addressed these barriers by focusing on wireless
technologies, which can be less costly to deploy across large
distances and rugged terrain. For example, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe
in Idaho is using a Rural Utilities Service grant to overcome its
limited financial resources and develop its own high-speed
wireless Internet system.
Some tribes are addressing the shortage of technically-trained
tribal members to plan and implement improvements on tribal lands
through mentoring and partnerships with educational institutions.
For example, the Yakama Nation has proposed to connect a local
university to its telecommunications system in exchange for
technical training for its staff. The Mescalero Apache Tribe has
improved its technical capacity by hiring technically trained
staff and pairing them with less trained staff, creating a
technical mentoring program.
To help reduce the time and expense required to obtain a
right-of-way across tribal lands, one tribe is developing a
right-of-way policy to make the tribal approval process more
timely and efficient. Also, a BIA official acknowledged that
portions of the federal regulations for rights-of-way over Indian
lands, including the section on telecommunications infrastructure,
are outdated. BIA is currently revising the regulations to better
apply to modern utility technologies, including advanced
telecommunications infrastructure, though the timeframes for
completion of this work have not been established.
Our report, Challenges to Assessing and Improving
Telecommunications for Native Americans on Tribal Lands, contains
more information on these and other tribal initiatives, as well as
detailed case studies of six tribes' efforts to improve their
telecommunications infrastructure and services.
Under the principles of universal service, as established by
Congress, FCC has recognized the need to promote
telecommunications deployment and subscribership on tribal lands.
Despite improvements in both deployment and subscribership of
telecommunications services, as of 2000, Native American
households on tribal lands still lag significantly behind the rest
of the nation. Progress in dealing with the underlying causes of
this problem is difficult to assess because of a paucity of
current information about both deployment and subscribership of
telecommunications for Native Americans on tribal lands. Moreover,
this lack of adequate data makes it difficult for FCC and Congress
to assess the extent to which federal efforts designed to increase
telecommunications deployment and subscribership on these lands
are succeeding.
We found there is a statutory provision in the Communications Act
which precludes some tribal libraries from benefiting from a
universal service program. The Act stipulates that a library's
eligibility for E-rate support is dependent on whether the library
is eligible for certain state library funds. Yet the tribal
libraries in at least two states are precluded under state law
from being eligible for such funds, which has the effect of making
these libraries ineligible to apply for E-rate funds. FCC
officials told us that modifying the federal eligibility criteria
to resolve this situation would require legislative action by the
Congress. Clarifying this issue could help bring high-speed
Internet access to more residents of tribal lands through their
tribal libraries.
In a draft of our report, Challenges to Assessing and Improving
Telecommunications for Native Americans on Tribal Lands, provided
for agency comment, we recommended that FCC determine what data is
needed to assess progress toward the goal of providing access to
telecommunications services to Native Americans living on tribal
lands and how this data should be collected, and then report to
Congress on its findings. FCC agreed that more data is needed but
maintained that it is not the organization best positioned to
determine what that data should be. Given FCC's response, we added
as a matter for congressional consideration that Congress should
consider directing FCC to determine what additional data is needed
to help assess progress toward the goal of providing access to
telecommunications services, including high-speed Internet, for
Native Americans living on tribal lands; determine how this data
should regularly be collected; and report to Congress on its
findings. We also suggested that to facilitate Internet access for
tribal libraries, Congress should consider amending the
Communications Act of 1934 to allow libraries eligible for Library
Services and Technology Act funds, provided by the Director of
Institute of Museum and Library Sciences to either a state library
administrative agency or to a federally recognized tribe, to be
eligible for funding under the E-rate program.
This concludes my statement, Mr. Chairman. I would be pleased to
answer any questions that you or other members of the committee
may have about our findings.
For questions regarding this testimony, please contact me on (202)
512-2834 or [email protected] . Individuals making key
contributions to this testimony include Carol Anderson-Guthrie,
Edda Emmanuelli-Perez, John Finedore, Michelle Fejfar, Logan
Kleier, Michael Mgebroff, John Mingus, Mindi Weisenbloom, Alwynne
Wilbur, Carrie Wilks, and Nancy Zearfoss.
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Background
Tribal Telephone Subscribership Rate is Substantially Below the National Level
and Internet Subscribership Is Unknown
447 U.S.C. S:151.
5Bureau of the Census, Housing of American Indians on
Reservations-Equipment and Fuels, Statistical Brief, S/B95-11,
(Washington, D.C.: April 1995).
6The Census 2000 data in this report are for the American Indian and
Alaska Native alone or in combination with one or more other races.
Households are classified by the race of the householder. When the term
Native American households is used, it refers to the total number of
occupied housing units where the race of the householder is American
Indian and/or Alaska Native alone or in combination with one or more other
races.
Native Americans Can Benefit from Several General and Tribal-Specific Federal
Programs to Improve Telecommunications Services
7Section 706(c)(1) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 defines advanced
telecommunications, without regard to any transmission media or
technology, as high-speed, switched, broadband telecommunications
capability that enables users to originate and receive high-quality voice,
data, graphics, and video telecommunications using any technology. See,
Pub. L. No. 104-104, Title VII, S: 706, Feb. 8, 1996, 110 Stat. 153,
reproduced in the notes under 47 U.S.C. S: 157.
8Local Telephone Competition and Broadband Reporting, 19 FCC Rcd 22340
(2004).
Multiple Barriers Exist to Improving Telecommunications on Tribal Lands
9FCC designated a not-for-profit corporation, the Universal Service
Administrative Company (USAC) to carry out the day-to-day operations of
the universal service programs, although FCC retains responsibility for
overseeing the programs' operations and ensuring compliance with the
commission's rules.
10Section 254 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 required FCC to
institute the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service. 47 U.S.C. S:
254 (a)(1). The board makes recommendations to implement the universal
service provisions of the Act. The board is comprised of FCC
commissioners, state utility commissioners, and a consumer advocate
representative.
11Rural Task Force, The Rural Difference: Rural Task Force White Paper 2,
(Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, January 2000),
http://www.wutc.wa.gov/rtf (downloaded August 25, 2005).
Tribes Are Addressing Barriers to Improved Telecommunications in Different Ways.
12Digital Subscriber Line is a broadband connection that provides greater
capacity for faster data transmission than can be provided over a
conventional telephone line.
Summary
Contact and Acknowledgements
(543166)
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Highlights of GAO-06-513T , a testimony before the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation, United States Senate
March 7, 2006
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Challenges to Assessing and Improving Telecommunications for Native
Americans on Tribal Lands
An important goal of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, is to
ensure access to telecommunications services for all Americans. This
testimony is based on GAO's January 2006 report GAO-06-189, which reviewed
1) the status of telecommunications subscribership for Native Americans
living on tribal lands; 2) federal programs available for improving
telecommunications on these lands; 3) barriers to improvements; and 4) how
some tribes are addressing these barriers.
What GAO Recommends
In a draft of its report provided for agency comment, GAO recommended that
FCC determine what data is needed to assess progress toward the goal of
providing access to telecommunications services to Native Americans living
on tribal lands and how this data should be collected, and then report to
Congress on its findings. FCC agreed more data is needed but maintained
that it is not the organization best positioned to determine what that
data should be. Given FCC's response, Congress should consider directing
FCC to carry out our recommendation. In addition, Congress should consider
amending the Communications Act to facilitate and clarify tribal
libraries' eligibility for universal service funds.
Based on the 2000 decennial census, the telephone subscribership rate for
Native American households on tribal lands was substantially below the
national level of about 98 percent. Specifically, about 69 percent of
Native American households on tribal lands in the lower 48 states and
about 87 percent in Alaska Native villages had telephone service. This
data indicates some progress since 1990, though changes since 2000 are not
known. The U.S. Census Bureau is implementing a new survey that will
provide annual telephone subscribership rates, but the results for all
tribal lands will not be available until 2010. The status of Internet
subscribership on tribal lands is unknown because no one collects this
data at the tribal level. Without current subscribership data, it is
difficult to assess progress or the impact of federal programs to improve
telecommunications on tribal lands.
The Rural Utilities Service and the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) have several general programs to improve telecommunications in rural
areas and make service affordable for low-income groups, which would
include tribal lands. In addition, FCC created some programs targeted to
tribes, including programs to provide discounts on the cost of telephone
service to residents of tribal lands. However, one of FCC's universal
service fund programs, which supports telecommunications services at
libraries, has legislatively based eligibility rules that preclude tribal
libraries in at least two states from being eligible for this funding. FCC
officials told GAO that it is unable to modify these eligibility rules
because they are contained in statute and thus modifications would require
legislative action by Congress.
The barriers to improving telecommunications on tribal lands most often
cited by tribal officials, service providers, and others GAO spoke with
were the rural, rugged terrain of tribal lands and tribes' limited
financial resources. These barriers increase the costs of deploying
infrastructure and limit the ability of service providers to recover their
costs, which can reduce providers' interest in investing in providing or
improving telecommunications services. Other barriers include the shortage
of technically trained tribal members and providers' difficulty in
obtaining rights of way to deploy their infrastructure on tribal lands.
GAO found that to address the barriers of rural, rugged terrain and
limited financial resources that can reduce providers' interest in
investing on tribal lands, several tribes are moving toward owning or
developing their own telecommunications systems, using federal grants,
loans, or other assistance, and partnerships with the private sector. Some
are also focusing on wireless technologies, which can be less expensive to
deploy over rural, rugged terrain. Two tribes are bringing in wireless
carriers to compete with wireline carriers on price and service. In
addition, some tribes have developed ways to address the need for
technical training, and one has worked to expedite the tribal
decision-making process regarding rights-of-way approvals.
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