The Osage Nation will expand internet access.
President Biden’s top advisers joined Chief Jeffrey Lieber and other members of Osage leadership in Pawhuska on Monday. They held a groundbreaking ceremony on new broadband internet lines and WiFi towers.
The tribal nation received more than $40 million in federal grants to provide broadband connectivity to residents.
“This is absolutely an equity issue and a civil rights issue,” said former Labor Secretary Tom Perez, now a senior adviser in the White House. “You look at the history of exclusion in this country, and tribal communities are often excluded.”
Talee Redcorn, who works on the tribal nation, said the lack of broadband hurts business in the area. People don’t want to open stores in areas with slow internet speeds.
“That’s an important factor,” Redcorn said.
Michael Bristow, vice president of the Osage Nationwide Health Authority (ONHA), said slow internet speeds have been especially felt during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many Osage citizens lack access to telemedicine.
“Healthcare software has security requirements,” Bristow said. “Everything has to be encrypted, which of course makes the files larger, and broadband internet is much more capable than our current system.”
The federal investment will help install 200 miles of fiber optic cable and build 16 fixed WiFi towers. The project will connect 3,000 families across the tribal nation, according to a news release.