SENATE PANEL TOLD BILL IS NEEDED TO AID INDIAN TELECOM SERVICES
Federal grants for Native American telecommunication must be put back on the Bush Administration’s list of priorities, speakers said at an oversight hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on the status of telecom in Indian Country. Sen. Johnson (D-S.D.) said improving telecom for Indians was “a matter of public safety, not luxury,” and Sen. Inouye (D-Hawaii) said the Administration had proposed eliminating outreach initiatives such as the Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) and the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP), both of which helped increase the “hook-up” on Indian reservations, which still have the lowest telephone penetration rates in the nation. TOP has given $17.5 million to Native American tribes for “projects establishing networks that enhance access to education, health and government as well as build capacity for e- commerce, e-training and distance learning,” said Kelly Levy, assoc. administrator for the Office of Policy Analysis & Development in the U.S. Commerce Dept.
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The FCC can help improve the situation dramatically, Inouye said. Dane Snowden, chief of the FCC Consumer & Government Affairs Bureau, pledged “continued commitment to outreach” in Indian Country, but acknowledged the Commission had done little to solve some of the current problems, including long distance fees’ being attached to 911 calls from reservations. He said the Commission would be organizing forums and planned to coordinate with tribes on such calls. Hilda Legg, administrator of the Agriculture Dept. Rural Utilities Service (RUS), said the key to developing a successful telecom system in Indian Country was a “good sustainable business plan -- one that has the support of the tribal community and meets the community’s individual needs.” RUS is the last federal service helping Native Americans that President Bush hasn’t suggested eliminating, and $9 million of its $20 million in grants goes to Indian Country, but Inouye estimated double that amount would be necessary to fully address problems.
FCC data show 67% of Indians having basic phone service, up from 47% ten years ago, but still nowhere near the non- Indian American rate of 95%. Inouye said: “I know we're all saying we're going to do our best, but at the same time, we're providing zero dollars. In our last wars, Indian Country has sent more sons and daughters to war than any other region per capita. We've paid our dues and it’s about time we get our benefits.”
“Funding merely solves half the equation, the nonhuman part of the equation,” consultant Kade Twist said. It’s the telecom expertise and organizational capacity to sustain its infrastructure that’s the most significant gap that needs to be filled in Indian Country, Twist said. Richard Narcia, gov. of the Gila River Indian Community, said the federal govt. should pass laws requiring that tribal communities be involved in all FCC decisionmaking processes that concern them, since the Commission’s actions may not be in the tribes’ best interests. U.S. and FCC jurisdiction in Indian Country was brought up, mainly in reference to external carriers and the federal govt.’s shortcomings in specifying jurisdiction in all situations. Inouye assured that boundaries of jurisdiction would be made clearer in the future.
Examples of successful telecom development on Indian reservations were given. Cora Whiting-Hildebrant, council member of the Oglala Sioux tribe, described her tribe’s relationship with Western Wireless and how the company had enabled 99% of the reservation to have wireless telephone service. Whiting-Hildebrant said such a competitive carrier was what they needed, and Congress and the FCC must respect Indian Country’s need for sovereign authority in such matters. Gene Dejourdy, vp-regulatory affairs, Western Wireless, said his company’s work had helped bring more responsive telephone providers into the reservation. As in the other success stories, Whiting-Hildebrant said continued federal funding was necessary for telecom development to continue.