The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida’s broadband service is working to expand access to a federally awarded broadband service in Hoonah, to ensure they can keep the license.
“It’s important to defend and keep wireless spectrum in Tribal communities to help uphold and preserve sovereignty and infrastructure,” said Chris Cropley with Tidal Network, the broadband service run by Tlingit and Haida.
He says that digital sovereignty helps keep tribal communities strong.
Hoonah Indian Association won a broadband bid from the Federal Communications Commission in 2020, thanks to a program that allowed rural tribes to get licenses.
Cropley says high-speed internet from this spectrum service — which uses radio waves to deliver information to and from households — will have to reach 80% of Hoonah’s population in just a couple of years. That’s a timeline set by the FCC.
SnowCloud Services — a Southeast Alaska internet provider — already provides Hoonah with access to high speed internet.
Chris Ruschmann owns SnowCloud Services. He said the city of Hoonah, tribal organizations, and corporations have worked together since 2014 to build the service for the community.
“Because there’s just never money for it, so we grew it our own,” he said.
Ruschmann says they’ve been able to provide strong and fast connections to everyone in the city. That’s made it easier for kids to go to remote classes, for people to use telehealth, and to retain seasonal employees.
“We’ve put a lot of effort into allowing people coming from outside of Hoonah, when they come to Hoonah, they still have the amenities that they have elsewhere,” Ruschmann said.
If Tidal Network doesn’t meet the FCC’s timeline for the federal bid, the awarded spectrum could go back out to auction. Cropley said the network will coordinate with existing services like SnowCloud to get the service out to people.
Correction: A previous version of this story inaccurately stated that Hoonah doesn’t currently have access to high-speed internet. We’ve added comment from Snowcloud Services and changed the headline.