Previously Recommended Tribal Broadband Awards Rejected

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 2025 – The Commerce Department said last week that previously obligated awards would not be rescinded as the agency prepares updated rules for its main Tribal broadband grant program.

That’s true, a spokesperson reiterated Tuesday. The trouble for some applicants is that their awards were only recommended for approval, meaning they had tentatively been selected but funds were not officially earmarked for their projects. 

Tribes in that situation have had their award recommendations rescinded, people involved in the process said.

Mac McHale, president of Alaska fiber provider Quintillion, said the company’s planned project to install a subsea fiber cable to St. Lawrence island was axed last week. The company partnered on the application with Kawerak, a Tribal services organization based in Nome, Alaska.

“Late last week they got a rejection notice on that,” he said of the project.

On Nov. 12, Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced it was preparing new rules for its Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program and would hold off on issuing new grants until those rules were finalized.

Last year the agency had taken applications for its second round of TBCP funding, about $980 million of the program’s $3 billion.

NTIA specified last week that $360 million in funding had been awarded to 48 projects. In the last months of the Biden administration, the agency had publicly announced a total of about $528 million in round two awards – and recommended awards – across 56 projects. 

About $168 million never obligated, 8 applications rejected

That implies about $168 million was never obligated, and eight applications ultimately rejected. NTIA said it couldn’t immediately confirm those figures.

Joe Valandra, CEO of Tribal Ready, said he worked with “more than one” tribe that had received rejection notices last week. 

He said the rejections had been frustrating for tribes, which had invested scarce resources in pursuing broadband expansion grants and in working with the NTIA to secure preliminary approval. 

“It caught the people that I know very off guard,” he said. “Most were anticipating they were going to get the final award letter, not this letter.”

NTIA referred Broadband Breakfast to the statement NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth gave when the agency announced it was updating the TBCP rules.

“NTIA’s goal is simple: stretch every dollar as far as possible to achieve universal Tribal connectivity and better serve Tribal communities’ needs,” Roth said.

“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.”

The new rules are planned to be unveiled in spring 2026, and the agency estimated at least $500 million would be available under the new funding round.

Valandra said it would be difficult for many tribes to marshall the cash and staff to go through another application round, but he expected many to participate because there isn’t additional Tribal broadband funding on the horizon.

“There’s no other real alternative right now, that we know of, for tribes,” he said. “So many are going to decide to go forward just because it’s the last chance to do this.”

He said ultimately there was going to be a continued need for broadband subsidies on Tribal lands, which lag behind the rest of the country in connectivity.

On Tuesday, Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., introduced a bill that would direct more Federal Communications Commission subsidies to Tribal lands.