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  "description": "The agency said no more awards would be made under current rules, and that previously announced awards would not be rescinded.",
  "path": "/new-rules-for-tribal-broadband-program-planned-for-spring-2026-ntia-says/",
  "publishedAt": "2025-11-12T22:19:12.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
  "tags": [
    "_in its announcement_",
    "_expressing concern_"
  ],
  "textContent": "WASHINGTON, Nov. 12, 2025 – The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is updating the rules for another of its broadband infrastructure programs, the agency said Wednesday.\n\nA new notice of funding opportunity for the agency’s Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program is planned for release in spring 2026. NTIA said _in its announcement_ that it would soon solicit input from Tribal governments on the new funding round, which it estimated would be at least $500 million.\n\n“NTIA’s goal is simple: stretch every dollar as far as possible to achieve universal Tribal connectivity and better serve Tribal communities’ needs,” NTIA Administrator **Arielle Roth** said in a statement.” This strategic realignment of our Tribal grant programs will reduce administrative burdens, prevent duplication, and ensure consistency across NTIA’s broadband initiatives. Most importantly, it will maximize the impact of this funding, helping to connect as many Tribal households as possible.”\n\nThe Tribal initiative is a $3 billion program aimed at supporting broadband deployments and adoption efforts on Tribal lands. NTIA awarded more than $1.8 billion in the first round of funding, and took applications early last year on a second tranche of funding totalling $980 million.\n\nAt the end of the Biden administration, the agency announced $360 million in awards under the second round. NTIA said Wednesday that “all further infrastructure and use and adoption grants will be awarded under the Trump Administration’s new rules.”\n\nAn agency spokesperson told _Broadband Breakfast_ NTIA would not rescind any of the previously announced awards, including the second round awards.\n\nThe change comes after Sens. **Maria Cantwell** , D-Wash., and **Brian Schatz** , D-Hawaii, sent a letter to NTIA last week _expressing concern_ about the status of the funding.\n\nThe lawmakers said the agency had left participants unsure of the program's future, in part because NTIA had not distributed money awarded to round two participants or made any new awards despite applications coming in March 2024.\n\n“We are concerned that the agency is reportedly applying additional, unnecessary standards and requirements to applications, resulting in uncertainty that threatens the success of existing and planned projects,” the senators wrote.\n\nNTIA said Wednesday it would also fold in to its new funding round the money set aside for Tribal governments and organizations under the Digital Equity Act – about $95 million of the law’s $2.75 billion in funding. The Trump administration rescinded all awarded grant funding under the law earlier this year, a move that has been challenged in court.\n\nThe agency will still make “equitable distribution” awards under the round two rules. Those are small awards up to $500,000 given to tribes that don’t end up qualifying for the full amount they sought in their applications.",
  "title": "New Rules for Tribal Broadband Program Planned for Spring 2026, NTIA Says",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-12T21:52:20.650Z"
}