[1st-mile-nm] FCC Blog Posting on Tribal Outreach

[Richard Lowenberg]

Heading Together Toward the Future

https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/blog/2017/06/02/heading-together-toward-future

June 2, 2017 - 3:12 pm
By Ajit Pai | FCC Chairman

My post introducing the FCC’s infrastructure initiatives a few weeks ago 
mentioned Marty McFly’s misguided worries about running out of road in 
the 1985 film “Back to the Future.” As you might remember, Dr. Brown 
assured Marty that roads wouldn’t be needed in the future.

The wireless networks of the future too will look very different. 
Instead of just big towers that intermittently dot the landscape, the 
wireless networks of our future will rely on much smaller building 
blocks—things like “small cells” and “distributed antenna systems.” 
These new kinds of infrastructure take up much less space. They are 
generally much less noticeable. They impact the environment less. And 
because they operate at lower power, they will be deployed at many more 
locations than towers.

As we move from the networks of today to those of tomorrow, the FCC 
wants to work collaboratively with everyone affected—particularly Tribal 
partners. That’s why, later this month, I’ll hit the road to discuss 
this transition with Tribal Nations. Some FCC coworkers and I have been 
kindly invited to attend the Mid-Year Session of the National Congress 
of American Indians (NCAI), which is the “oldest, largest, and most 
representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization” serving 
Tribal interests. We’ll be participating in consultation sessions with a 
number of Tribes (and in addition to these NCAI sessions, dedicated FCC 
staff are already doing outreach to Tribes on both conference calls and 
visits to Indian Country).

The FCC has a long and successful history of working with Tribes on a 
wide range of issues affecting Indian Country. These relationships led 
us to create a groundbreaking system, the Tower Construction 
Notification System (TCNS). This is an online system that notifies 
federally recognized Tribes, Native Hawaiian Organizations, and State 
Historic Preservation Officers about proposed wireless construction 
projects. The TCNS is widely acknowledged by Tribal Nations, industry, 
and other government entities as an important, effective tool to help 
ensure that these projects respect historic properties of religious and 
cultural significance to Tribes.

The rules, protocols, and practices governing TCNS were crafted more 
than a decade ago, and as I mentioned earlier, advances in wireless 
networks are proceeding apace. It’s a challenge to match the two, but 
the FCC is aiming to do that in order to modernize our rules and close 
the digital divide. I’m excited to discuss this initiative with our 
Tribal partners. Going forward—just as in the past—we want to ensure 
that potential effects on culturally significant sites are identified 
and alternatives to avoid or minimize such effects are considered.

I believe that the FCC and Tribal Nations share the same goal—ensuring 
high-speed Internet access to anyone who wants it, while respecting and 
preserving sites with historic, religious, and cultural significance to 
Tribes. To achieve this goal, the FCC needs to and wants to exchange 
perspectives with Tribes on the full range of issues associated with the 
deployment of wireless broadband infrastructure. I’m personally 
committed to that.

I invite the leaders of the 567 federally-recognized Tribes and Native 
Hawaiian Organizations to join this important conversation. The FCC 
takes seriously its federal trust responsibilities and wants to have 
meaningful consultations. I look forward to listening, learning, and 
working together to sustain and improve our processes as our wireless 
networks go back to the future.



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