[1st-mile-nm] Navajo Nation nearing completion of $46 million broadband project

[Richard Lowenberg]

Navajo Nation nearing completion of $46 million broadband project

By Jenny Kane The Daily Times
Updated:   03/24/2013

http://www.daily-times.com/farmington-news/ci_22863325/navajo-nation-nearing-completion-46-million-broadband-project

FARMINGTON

The Navajo Nation is about to get connected with the help of a tribal 
owned company.

Now in its final stages, a nearly $46 million dollar project is 
expected to create a broadband network that will give more than 30,000 
households and 1,000 businesses access to improved wireless Internet 
service and cell phone service.

An additional 1,100 community institutions, including public safety, 
health, social services and emergency care facilities are expected to 
benefit from the new infrastructure.

"It's a very complex project, and the Navajo Nation is the largest 
reservation in the country," said Mike Scully, general manager of the 
Navajo Tribal Utility Authority Wireless, first Navajo majority owned 
broadband company.

The company is a joint venture between the utility authority, which 
owns 51 percent of the company, and Commnet Wireless, which owns the 
rest.

The project began about three years ago, when the U.S. Department of 
Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration 
awarded the utility authority a $32.2 million grant from the American 
Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The utility authority committed another $11.3 million in contributions, 
and Commnet, another $2.2 million.
The company already is testing its project in select locations, which 
are spread across the Navajo Nation. The company's product eventually 
will be available from nearly half of the tribe's land, which spans 
about 27,000 square miles.

The area is notorious for shoddy cell phone and wireless Internet 
service.

The vastness of the land, and its lack of existing infrastructure, 
posed challenges throughout the project for those trying to create a 
network.

"It has a very unique terrain," Scully said.

Still, the company has completed most of the construction. The project 
includes 550 miles of fiber optic cable and 32 new communications 
towers.

Another 27 existing communications towers were modified.

The fiber optic cable, which is cable containing up to 1,000 fibers 
that can transport multiple terabytes in one second, will run between 
various locations.

The longest, spanning 161 miles, runs between Tohatchi and Tsaile, and 
the second-longest, 117 miles, will run between Farmington and 
Yah-ta-Hey.

Others range from 20 to 98 miles long.

Residents will be able to access the services, as will businesses in 
the cables' surroundings.
Depending on how isolated the cables are, the company also will be 
installing advanced networks in the most isolated areas.

"We're in the final phase," said Mike Hazel, director of operations and 
engineering at Navajo Tribal Utility Authority Wireless.

Hazel, who runs the company's control and data center in Shiprock, said 
it's only a matter of time before the services will be available to the 
communities, including many of the chapter houses.
Shiprock is already is hooked up to a trial cable, something that the 
chapter is considering using once the utility authority is ready to sell 
its product, chapter officials said.

The company's packages will start at about $28 per month for the most 
basic service, though the company has not decided what the most 
expensive package will be.

Company officials could not say when it would be ready to sell, though 
it likely be within the next few months, they said. They will be 
conducting trials during the next month or two.

"We're going to do this right," Scully said.



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Richard Lowenberg, Executive Dir.
1st-Mile Institute, 505-603-5200
Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
www.1st-mile.com  rl at 1st-mile.com
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