Many Indigenous communities still lack broadband internet. Here’s why. [Video]

In 2020, amid a global pandemic that highlighted a staggering digital divide among Americans, the federal government pledged to do something. 

Its solution? Some promising tech subsidies and a wave of funding for internet access initiatives, specifically high speed broadband. This money included the government’s promise to fix the missing middle miles of fiber optic connections that have for decades kept many Indigenous areas offline.

At the time, the round of funding was a history-making investment in supporting this internet infrastructure, filling a long-simmering institutional gap. Since then, much of the funding has been allocated and many government subsidized programs have run their course. But, years later, American Indian and Alaska Native households living on tribal lands still have one of the lowest broadband subscription rates in the United States, at 71 percent, with the national average at 90 percent, according to recent census data. 

Connection to high speed internet at home is increasingly considered a social determinant of health. According to the White House, it’s also the …