‘Far-talking’ broadband network to reach rural Indian country

WASHINGTON – When Tehan Woglake is up and running the business will fulfill the promise of its name.

Tehan Woglake (pronounced tee’han wog’a lakki) means “far-talking” in Lakota. The new business aims to provide high-speed broadband Internet access to tribal governments, tribal members and communities in some of the most rural areas of the country so they can talk to each other and the rest of the world, closing the information gap of 21st century communications technology.

Tehan Woglake is raising around $500,000 from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and private sources for the massive infrastructure project that will provide broadband services to more than 318,000 square miles in 407 counties in 15 states, including 77 Indian tribes. The service will reach 2.8 million tribal and rural households, businesses and institutions. The company is registered as a corporation in Nevada with offices in Virginia.

Joe Valandra, Rosebud Sioux, has a controlling interest in the new company. Citing a recent report issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Valandra said high-speed broadband Internet service plays a crucial role in addressing rural economic development, health care and public safety.

“Native Americans are among the last citizens to gain access to the Internet, with access to broadband often unavailable in Native communities. Broadband deployment in Indian country is at less than a 10 percent penetration rate. There is no greater digital divide than that experienced by Native Americans.”

Valandra was an unintended chairman and CEO of the company. With more than 25 years of experience in investment banking, management, restructuring, and Indian gaming, the former National Indian Gaming Commission chief of staff is running his own successful consulting business. VAdvisors utilizes all of his skills including his expertise in Indian gaming, Internet gaming and gaming manufacturing.

“Tehan Woglake wasn’t something I was looking for, honestly. I do all my work in Indian country and I’m passionate about that.”

Once he took the time to study the project and think about the potential for building a successful and needed business that would benefit Indian country, Tehan Woglake became irresistible.

“So then I came up with a business model and gathered a team of people that I knew – Sycuan Kumeyaay Tribal Chairman Dan Tucker, Chairman Rodney Bordeaux from my home reservation Rosebud Sioux, Chairman Josh Weston of Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe and others. They all wanted to be a part of this and work together and they all became avid supporters when they realized this was going to be an Indian focused group or business – but not 100 percent Indian because we agreed that the business was contingent upon having a model that would sustain itself over the years. A lot of government programs have come and tried to set up a tribal business dependent on a one-time grant that’s not sustainable to keep a business running. We didn’t want that,” Valandra said.

The timing for the new company could not have been more auspicious. Tehan Woglake came together just as the Obama administration announced the availability of $7.2 billion in ARRA funds for the build-out of broadband services.

“So we expanded our vision from just tribal land to all of rural America. That’s what the funds that were potentially available were focused on. Also, we believe that this is a one-time opportunity – maybe the best in a lifetime – for tribes in rural America to be pulled up roughly to be equitable with the rest of the country when it comes to technology,” Valandra said.

The latest round of ARRA grants are scheduled to be announced this month. The company is also in the process of raising private funds, and while the ARRA grant would be welcomed, the project is not totally dependent on it, Valandra said.

Tehan Woglake will provide broadband services to a massive area delineated into five sections of the country. The Flandreau Service encompasses parts of South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. The Louisiana Service area covers parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. The Northeast Oklahoma Service Area includes parts of Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. The Rosebud Sioux Service Area includes parts of Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming, and the Sycuan Service Area includes parts of Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah.

Many of the areas are the most rural and most persistently impoverished communities in the country. The project itself will act as a stimulus to local economies.

The project will entail putting up thousands of bay stations throughout the service areas that will bring turnkey broadband services to households, governments and businesses and other entities, including Internet access, voice-over-IP (VoIP), and a suite of video, multimedia, entertainment and information interactive services for governments, consumers and businesses.

At its full build-out and operation, Tehan Woglake is expected to create around 4,000 jobs in design, construction, deployment and operation. Two-thirds of the positions will be high-paying jobs during the one to three years of construction. The company will employ an additional 250 people for permanent jobs in sales, marketing, customer service and technical assistance. The company projects at least 564,000 subscribers in five years.

Tehan Woglake will become a full-time job for Valandra once the company is fully funded and moving forward. Until then, he plans to continue his consulting work.

“I’ll never lose interest in all the things that I do in Indian country, all these things that have my passion, but I’ll have to spend all of my time on Tehan Woglake as the business unfolds. As I realized the potential of Tehan Woglake, I got passionate about it too because it does good things for my people and for everyone.”