MMBI Unveils First-Ever Joint Broadband Build With Tribal Entity

California’s effort to connect unserved and underserved parts of the state to high-speed Internet has announced a new partnership and push into Hoopa Valley Tribe ancestral lands in Humboldt County — the first of its kind.

The Middle-Mile Broadband Initiative (MMBI) project is its first tribal-state broadband joint build partnership, undertaken with Hoopa Valley Public Utilities District. The partnership will see around 23 miles of high-capacity middle-mile infrastructure built along State Route 96.

Once complete, the project will allow last-mile service to approximately 1,900 homes and 3,000 residents, the California Department of Technology (CDT) said in a press release. CDT is the lead planning and construction entity for the Middle-Mile Broadband Network in collaboration with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the California Public Utilities Commission.

As of Aug. 1, MMBI has constructed a total of 8,155 total miles of broadband infrastructure across all 58 counties, with 4,016 miles in active construction.

To date, cumulative federal funding for broadband expansion in the state’s most populous counties is as follows:

1. Los Angeles: $96.5 million
2. San Diego: $26.8 million
3. Orange: (no data)
4. Riverside: $25.2 million
5. San Bernardino: $42.2 million

Humboldt County, where the Hoopa Valley Tribe is located, has received $47.3 million in federal broadband funding. Click here to see a data visualization from the California Public Utilities Commission showing federally funded broadband projects by county.

Ben Miller contributed to this report.