Government adoption of Web 2.0 technologies is sprouting up around the world, often in impressive micro-budget projects with volunteer labor, government officials and outside experts said on a webcast Thursday. But the efforts have a long way to go -- especially considering that they depend on bridging the digital divide and they can extend all the way into rebuilding distant, backward countries shattered by war, they said on O'Reilly Media’s Gov 2.0 International conference.

The National Broadband Plan will take into account “the unique circumstances” faced by American Indian tribes, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Tuesday during a speech to the National Congress of American Indians meeting in Washington. The FCC needs different programs to promote broadband deployment in “Monument Valley” than in Silicon Valley, Genachowski said: “I get that.”

The National Broadband Plan will take into account “the unique circumstances” faced by American Indian tribes, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Tuesday during a speech to the National Congress of American Indians meeting in Washington. The FCC needs different programs to promote broadband deployment in “Monument Valley” than in Silicon Valley, Genachowski said: “I get that."

NTIA gave a $7.25 million grant from its Broadband Technology Opportunities Program to increase economic opportunities in California. The grant will provide digital literacy training for more than 675,000 people in low-income communities in Los Angeles, the Central Valley, Orange County, San Diego and the Inland Empire, NTIA said in a release. The training will enable them to “make use of key educational, employment and health resources online.” Part of the investment will be used to coordinate an outreach campaign and to upgrade the state’s One-e-App one-stop online screening and enrollment system. While broadband use rates have increased, “a significant portion of the population is still not online,” said NTIA Administrator Lawrence Strickling. “This investment will help close this gap and help create economic opportunities for more Americans."

An $84 million investment from NTIA will help the Northwest Open Access Network bring high-speed Internet access to people in Washington. The network will add “830 miles of fiber and eight new microwave sites to their existing high-speed network,” NTIA said. The funds will provide connection opportunities for more than 100 community anchor institutions, including three tribal centers.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has posted USTR Kirk's remarks, as prepared for delivery, for the Retail Industry Leaders Association Logistic Conference. Among other things, Kirk stated that the USTR is currently seeking to resolve outstanding issues on the Colombian, Korean, and Panamanian Free Trade Agreements in an effort to move those forward at the appropriate time. (Remarks, posted 02/24/10, available at http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/speeches/transcripts/2010/february/remarks-ambassador-ron-kirk-retail-industry)

The Rural Utilities Service said it plans to act on provisions about Substantially Underserved Trust Areas in the 2008 farm bill. The provisions apply to all RUS programs, including those in telecom and broadband. The work is part of an effort by the agency to increase the funding eligibility of tribal governments and communities. “SUTA implementation will be part of a long-term strategy to assist tribes in meeting utility infrastructure needs that are unique to underserved trust areas,” RUS said Monday. The agency said it plans meetings around the country organized with the Agriculture Department’s Tribal Relations office, the USDA Rural Development office’s Native American coordinator, and other federal, state and local agencies.

Tribal leaders are concerned about how few American Indian tribes have won broadband stimulus grants. Native Americans have a meeting at the U.S. Department of Agriculture scheduled for Tuesday to discuss possible changes in the Rural Utilities Service’s Broadband Infrastructure Program.

Native-American and Alaskan tribes will get priority in establishing new radio stations serving tribal lands, as expected (CD Dec 29 p2), said an FCC order released Wednesday. “Although well over a million Native Americans and Alaska Natives live on over 55 million acres of tribal lands across the United States, only 41 radio stations are currently licensed to native tribes,” the commission said in a news release. “Companies controlled by tribes that want to establish new radio stations designed to serve communities located on tribal lands” also get priority under Section 307(b) of the Communications Act, it said. Commissioner Robert McDowell hopes “the new stations that result - whether AM or FM, commercial or noncommercial - help to promote tribal self-sufficiency and economic development,” he said. Tribes “have been woefully underrepresented among the radio ownership ranks” and members “simply do not have access to a critical source of information that can contribute significantly to the economic and community development of Native peoples,” Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said. Commissioner Michael Copps said the new rule “is tailored to advance the interests of the Tribes in a manner that satisfies Supreme Court precedent concerning both tribal sovereignty and the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.” A rulemaking sought comment on whether to start tribal bidding credits and to extend the priority to “Non-Landed Tribes.” Comments are due 60 days after the further rulemaking notice appears in the Federal Register, replies 30 days later.

Gila River Telecommunications is urging the FCC to grant permission in docket 80-286 to alter its intrastate and interstate networks. The telco determined which of its networks were subject to intrastate and interstate funding, and voluntarily locked them in 2001, “to reduce regulatory burdens as suggested by the commission,” it said in a filing. When GRTI changed its switches and carrier systems, its network “evolved from a switch-based network to a more efficient circuit-based network, to better utilize state-of the-art network design.” The petition was filed in Nov. 2006, and still remains pending. The freeze has cost GRTI more than $1.4 million annually in USF high cost support, it said. To continue expanding its network and providing “affordable service without rate increases to the mostly low- income tribal community, GRTI needs the high cost support to which it would be entitled but for its 2001 interim election.”