Unless you live on or near an Indian reservation, chances are you rarely think about the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Housed under the Department of the Interior, it finances infrastructure improvements and public services for members of federally recognized Indian tribes. For decades, Indian reservations have lagged the rest of the US for computer (and phone) network access. In recent years, the BIA has begun working to rectify these problem.
A Global North Institute FOIA request to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for contract GS00Q17NSD3009 yielded interesting results about the state of telecom on Indian reservations in the US. BIA responded by providing over 400 pages of documentation related to a contract with Verizon to provide network services for reservations. The total award came over $147 million. A large dataset detailed fiber versus TDM copper internet connections and megabit per second performance rates. Some Indian schools like Aneth Community School in Montezuma Creek, Utah actually rely on microwave wireless connections. Some schools had no internet connections at the time the dataset was compiled, like Lower Bruie Elementary School in South Dakota, although it was listed as having a 100 Mbps connection on-order.
In its dataset, the agency appears to show an output of traffic data coming from different Indian schools over networks it supports. A large spreadsheet titled “EIS traffic model” shows virtual private access data and target speeds originating from each school, although the termination point for the connections is not included in the dataset.
Although the contract-related dataset skews very technical, it gives a useful sense of the state of computer network access for Indian schools nationwide. Virtually all network devices and licenses purchased under the contract originated with networking technology giant, Cisco, including routers, edge peering border gateway protocol technology, and very mundane purchases like AC power cables.
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