Wireless Broadband, San Diego County, CA

Rugged Terrain and Sparse Population is No Excuse

• Technological solutions exist for every type of terrain
• Focus on more than connectivity

The Southern California Tribal Chairman's Association, representing 18 tribal nations in San Diego County California obtained a Hewlett-Packard Digital Village grant and created the Tribal Digital Village. The original goal was to establish at least one high-speed Internet connection for each of the tribes.

Due to the mountainous terrain and sparse population density, line of sight antennas were placed on top of several mountains. Many of them are powered by solar energy because they are so remote electricity is not available.

The $5 million grant from Hewlett Packard was enough to get started. $4 million was used to purchase computer and printer equipment. The remaining $1 million was given incrementally over a 3-year period in cash to help build resource centers and to supply Tribal operations with updated computer hardware. Some of the money was also used to start building the infrastructure for the wireless network.

Resource centers at each tribe were created and 14 of the 18 tribal centers are supported via a wireless network. The others have stand-alone connections.

The Tribal Digital Village goal is to be able to offer high-speed Internet service for every household. In addition, 65 community buildings are connected, including Tribal Administration Buildings, EPA, Schools, Libraries, Fire Stations, and Sheriff Substations.

One of the successes of this project has been the shadow project to develop the Tribal Youth involvement. The TDV Shadow Project has been created to be a mentoring program that provides community youth with training and mentoring on current technology. Youth training opportunities provide experience in web design, web management, tower placement and network configuration. In fact, one point-to-point link on the network was created by youth. The purpose is to train the community that it represents and empower them to take the tools of the technology and operate and manage the Tribal Digital Project for the future.

For More Information:
http://www.sctdv.net/

Contact:
Matthew R. Rantanen, Director of Technology, Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Assoc.
Acting Director of Southern California Tribal Technologies, LLC
General Manager, Hi Rez Digital Solutions
Phone: 760-742-0582 x 130
Email: mrantanen@sctdv.net