News Release
Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation
The Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation has received federal grant funding from the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to help fund the development of a tribally-owned broadband system for internet and telecommunication services for its membership.
The tribe’s $15,854,541 National Telecommunications and Information Administration grant award will help fund the design and construction of broadband infrastructure to connect 590 unserved tribal member households, in addition to Indian-owned businesses and organizations on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation.
The tribe’s receipt of this funding is an integral step in exercising its license over unused spectrum spanning the tribe’s Uintah and Ouray Reservation. In the fall of 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) awarded the Ute Indian Tribe a license for unused 2.5 GHz spectrum across the Reservation. This FCC license is a critical asset, empowering the tribe to deploy high-speed wireless internet and telecommunication services to remote and underserved areas of its Reservation. The NTIA grant will provide the tribe with critical funding to develop the infrastructure needed to put its spectrum license to use.
“We are excited to take control over broadband on our Reservation,” says Ute Indian Tribe Business Committee Chairman Shaun Chapoose. “Access to reliable internet and cellular service is an expectation in today’s society. Yet, many of our members have been left behind. As tribal leaders, our goal is to help ensure all of our members have access to these basic resources.”
About the Ute Indian Tribe
The Ute Indian Tribe resides on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in northeastern Utah. Three bands of Utes comprise the Ute Indian Tribe: the Whiteriver Band, the Uncompahgre Band and the Uintah Band. The tribe has a membership of more than three thousand individuals, with over half living on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation. The Ute Indian Tribe operates its own tribal government and oversees approximately 1.3 million acres of trust land which contains significant oil and gas deposits. The Tribal Business Committee is the governing council of the tribe.
