Expanding broadband internet will enrich the community with improved access to educational material, expansion of telemedicine services, and provide more mobility and safety along tribal lands.
Navajo Nation’s communities are spread across the states of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, covering 27,000 square miles of unparalleled culture and beauty. In some rural areas, the population is somewhat sparse and so communities have been underserved in terms of infrastructure, including broadband internet. AECOM is supporting the Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President (OVPR) GIS, IT, Navajo Nation Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NNTRC) with program management professional services for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (NTIA-TBC-TBCPO-2021-2006948).
The single Navajo Nation authorized proposal will request funding from NTIA to remediate tribal broadband for unserved and underserved locations outlined in the NTIA’s Notice of Funding Opportunity. AECOM conducted an independent (i.e. third-party) review of Eligible Telecommunications Carriers’ (ETC) project proposals that will be part of the Navajo Nation’s grant submission.
Through the project, AECOM used GIS to determine the unserved and undeserved communities and ranked 81 potential broadband projects worth approximately $49M to be part of the NNTRC’s NTIA application. The second effort includes AECOM being the broadband program manager for NNTRC to oversee any broadband awarded funding and project delivery to deploy crucial broadband facilities to Navajo communities.