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Communications United States

Biden Administration Makes $1 billion in Grants Available for Broadband on Tribal Lands (theverge.com) 42

The Biden administration will make $1 billion in grants available to expand broadband access and adoption on tribal lands, Vice President Kamala Harris announced at the White House Thursday. From a report: The funds, from the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), will be made to eligible Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian entities for broadband deployment, to support digital inclusion, workforce development, telehealth, and distance learning. "For generations, a lack of infrastructure investment in Indian Country has left Tribes further behind in the digital divide than most areas of the country," Department of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. "We have a responsibility as a country to build infrastructure that will fuel economic development, keep communities safe, and ensure everyone has opportunities to succeed."

According to the Commerce Department, census figures show only half of households on tribal lands subscribe to home internet service, and some areas lack even the most basic cellphone reception. More than 20 percent of people living on tribal lands don't have broadband access at home. And during the pandemic as schools closed, some students at tribal-serving schools had to drive for miles to find a strong enough connection to participate in online classes.

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Biden Administration Makes $1 billion in Grants Available for Broadband on Tribal Lands

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  • What do you want to bet they can only get Comcast?

    Execs need new yachts. Can't leave them high and dry.

    • by grogger ( 638944 )
      Think StarLink. This is what they are moving to in many of the remote Canadian reservations. No infrastructure required.
      • by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Thursday June 03, 2021 @04:32PM (#61451918)

        Think StarLink.

        StarLink is likely the best solution, but the government should not be in the business of "picking winners".

        A better solution is to provide the end-users with vouchers. Then let StarLink, Comcast, Spectrum, etc., compete for them.

        • Bingo!

          All of these government attempts in the past have focused on picking a single "winner", giving them all the cash, and hoping for a good outcome. I've lost count of how many times we have been promised rural broadband only to see it all vaporize. The TelCos deliver next to nothing, the money is all gone, and there is no accountability.

          • ... picking a single "winner" ...

            When 3% of the community chooses Telco A, it isn't going to buy the right-of-access and cable needed to connect that 3%. This is why the fibre/cable to the home should be government-owned.

            ... no accountability.

            No risk, via no punishment or cost+plus contracts, means the government is creating a de facto monopoly. We all know that's bad capitalism but the US government does it again and again, and the voters don't complain, again and again.

            • This is why the fibre/cable to the home should be government-owned.

              Or the government can own the conduit, say an 8-inch PVC pipe, and let any bonded company pull fiber through it.

              Since trenching is 95% of the cost of laying fiber, this would nearly eliminate the barriers to competition.

    • What do you want to bet they can only get Comcast?

      Execs need new yachts. Can't leave them high and dry.

      I don't want to bet. I want to see what happens before rendering a value judgement.

      • Well, you're definitely not in my line of work.

        • Well, you're definitely not in my line of work.

          I have no clue what your line of work is, but I've been in IT/software for almost 30 years, working in software in 10 different companies, from behemoths to startups, from insurance companies to hardware companies to companies in the defense sectors, either through direct employment or as a contractor. I've been laid off a couple of times, seen jobs replaced by outsourcing or automation, etc, etc, etc. And before working in software, I worked in all types of jobs: hamburger flipping, driving forklifts, etc,

      • I want to see what happens before rendering a value judgement.

        By the time the results can be judged, it will be too late to fix anything.

        The time to raise questions is at the beginning.

        • I want to see what happens before rendering a value judgement.

          By the time the results can be judged, it will be too late to fix anything.

          The time to raise questions is at the beginning.

          There's a difference between raising questions and placing bets that shit will go sideways. One is about being a critical thinker. The other is just living for catharsis.

          • There's a difference between raising questions and placing bets that shit will go sideways.

            Prediction markets [wikipedia.org], which allow people to place bets on policies, are suprisingly effective at identifying bad ideas.

            • There's a difference between raising questions and placing bets that shit will go sideways.

              Prediction markets [wikipedia.org], which allow people to place bets on policies, are suprisingly effective at identifying bad ideas.

              Except none one here is using a sufficiently rigorous prediction-market model to substantiate their claims.

              "Oh, I'm pulling an assumption out of my ass, here is a prediction model that I'm not using at all to prove my assumption is right."

              That's where we are right now.

      • ... a value judgement.

        Do you do that with schoolgirls not using condoms, or car-drivers not using seat-belts? It doesn't take much thought to see the inevitable problem. Why are you more interested in the 'rightness' of something, than in preventing an undesired outcome?

        Assuming the previous bad behaviour won't happen again, isn't avoiding prejudice, it's enabling neglect and externalizing costs. It's easy to demand behaviours (eg. carrying condoms, paying a completion bond before building infrastructure) that reduce undesi

        • ... a value judgement.

          Do you do that with schoolgirls not using condoms, or car-drivers not using seat-belts? It doesn't take much thought to see the inevitable problem. Why are you more interested in the 'rightness' of something, than in preventing an undesired outcome?

          Argumentum ad absurdum. Congratulations.

          Assuming the previous bad behaviour won't happen again, isn't avoiding prejudice, it's enabling neglect and externalizing costs. It's easy to demand behaviours (eg. carrying condoms, paying a completion bond before building infrastructure) that reduce undesired outcomes.

          TL;DR: Prevention is better than finding a cure.

          There's a difference between being careful and critical, and quite another one to be taking bets that things go sideways. One entertains the possibility that things can go bad (due to past precedent), and the other one is just pathological nihilism.

          Run with whatever happens to be compatible with your inner demons.

  • can get even better internet.
  • That works out to almost 80,782 Starlink connects for ten years at current pricing. Like any other internet uplink, SpaceX Dishy McFlatface can be fanned out to multiple clients, so the number of actual customers served could be much higher than 80,782.

    The best possible outcome would be that the government hands over those funds directly to individuals or tribes and then those in remote areas purchase Starlink service.

    The likely outcome is that the federal government will skim funds to pay legions of bure

    • As you point out, the usual winners (e.g. owners of big companies) may be most likely to get the grants because they are already winning and have the organizational infrastructure to win again at the grant game.

      A UBI helps level the playing field a bit. If Native Americans or anyone else want to spend some of their UBI on communications (e.g. Starlink, cell phones, local mesh networks, local fiber, investing in a local cooperative that install such, or whatever), then that is their choice.

  • This is yet more evidence that Biden has no clue about where money comes from or what it is worth. He is spending our money like a drunken sailor. Just fire up the printing presses, Joe! Another billion here, another trillion there. No problem.

    • Oh make no mistake, he knows exactly where it comes from. The future. Specifically, a future in which he'll be gone, or at least out of politics and in a position where he won't have to worry about his own taxes going up.

      With all the shouting at "Boomers" the kids are doing these days, you'd think they wouldn't be so quick to spend their own children's money.

  • Guaranteed it wonâ(TM)t make any difference telecom companies will ask for money again without getting broadband to even one person in these areas.

  • (Sorry I meant Native American) but I'm glad to see that finally this group and Black people getting just a tiny bit of economic justice after centuries of (usually overt) discrimination. I think I saw a NYTimes article on how some of Biden's economic policies were done with this in mind. More (Black) power to them!

    I'm sure if Obama had done this, he would have been (hi-tech) lynched so it's good that a White, moderate male is doing this.

    Look, unless we tackle past and present injustices, we'll never be a

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