Federal law requires phone and internet companies to make affordable, reliable service available everywhere — including rural and remote areas — under a policy called universal service. The Tribal Internet Expansion Act of 2025 would update that policy to explicitly include tribal lands and areas with large Native American populations alongside rural and high-cost regions. Adding tribal communities to the universal service standard means the federal program funding broadband and phone expansion would have a clearer legal basis to direct resources to Native American communities that have historically had far less connectivity than other parts of the country.
Congressional Summary
This bill extends to Indian country (i.e., all lands within a tribal reservation, dependent Indian communities, and tribal allotments) and areas with high populations of Indians the universal service principle that telecommunications and information services in rural, insular, and high-cost areas should be available at rates that are reasonably comparable to urban areas.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2025-11-17
- Date Added
- 2026-04-10
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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