{"id":250361,"date":"2026-04-03T18:03:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T18:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/250361\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T18:03:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T18:03:08","slug":"bishop-paiute-tribe-first-in-california-to-join-states-middle-mile-broadband-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/250361\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishop Paiute Tribe first in California to join state’s middle-mile broadband network"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Paiute Tribe of Bishop, California, on Thursday became the first group to connect to the state\u2019s middle-mile broadband network when it linked its education and community centers.<\/p>\n

Gov. Gavin Newsom joined the tribe for a switch-on<\/a> ceremony honoring the first connection to the nation\u2019s largest public broadband network, the California Middle Mile Broadband Network. The network was created in 2021 after he signed Senate Bill 156, which ordered the creation an open-access middle-mile network to bring equitable high-speed broadband service to all Californians. The law provided $3.25 billion to build the necessary infrastructure to bring internet connectivity to homes, businesses and community institutions \u2014 but specifically, to serve\u00a0rural and historically overlooked communities, like the Bishop Paiute Tribe. Of the network\u2019s more than 8,000 planned miles of fiber, the infrastructure linking the Paiute tribe was completed first.<\/p>\n

Newsom, during remarks made at the live switchover event on Thursday, said the moment\u00a0represented\u00a0the first real-world impact of the nation\u2019s largest\u00a0open-access middle-mile\u00a0network, and a major step forward in\u00a0closing the digital divide\u00a0across California, particularly for the tribe\u2019s youth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the largest, there is simply no peer, the largest investment \u2014 over 8,000 miles \u2026 of infrastructure on the middle-mile. Nothing comes close in the United States,\u201d Newsom said during a press conference<\/a> following the network\u2019s activation. \u201cThat investment alone is $3.2 billion dollars. The last mile, though, is where it all happens and that\u2019s where the magic occurred quite literally just a few moments before we walked in. The magic wasn\u2019t taking a small wire and plugging it in \u2014 it was to see those young kids [playing] Minecraft saying, Whoa, this is a little bit different than the game I was playing just a few moments ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

The network uses state infrastructure to support\u00a0community self\u2011determination and autonomy. In this case, the Bishop Paiute Tribe signed a\u00a0$0 contract\u00a0with the California Department of Technology, which supervises the overall program and policy direction, for middle-mile broadband network services. The tribe\u2019s internet service provider will set a pricing scheme and service models. This allows the tribe, not the state, to keep any\u00a0profit from selling services.<\/p>\n

The Pauite tribe\u2019s new internet connection is on a previously dormant\u00a0423\u2011mile segment of fiber that runs along Highway 395\u00a0in eastern California \u2014 from\u00a0Barstow to Reno, Nevada \u2014 purchased from the California Broadband Consortium. CDT updated the infrastructure by upgrading the fiber and constructing new huts, hubs and nodes to ensure the network could carry a healthy signal.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of work has gone into this project,\u201d Emma Williams, chair of the Bishop Paiute Tribe said in a written statement. \u201cWe\u2019re so happy to have this portion of the state\u2019s middle-mile network turned on so the people in our community who desperately need a reliable and affordable internet connection can access everything from schoolwork to telehealth appointments.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of March, 423 miles were ready to connect, 4,827 miles were in the installation phase and the remaining 2,960 miles were in pre-construction. Those miles of fiber are being built and acquired through a mix of processes, including joint builds, leases, indefeasible right of use agreements and purchases. The network\u2019s route has been determined in part by areas where\u00a0private companies would likely never build because of the challenging terrain or the necessity of building long routes to attract relatively few customers.<\/p>\n

Christina Snider-Ashtari, Newsom\u2019s tribal affairs secretary said the day marked \u201ca historic first as a California tribal nation enthusiastically leads the way to provide increased access and reliability to their local community. California\u2019s partnership with the Bishop Paiute Tribe demonstrates the progress we can make when we work together to provide a brighter future for all Californians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Keely<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWritten by Keely Quinlan
\n\t\t\tKeely Quinlan reports on privacy and digital government for StateScoop. She was an investigative news reporter with Clarksville Now in Tennessee, where she resides, and her coverage included local crimes, courts, public education and public health. Her work has appeared in Teen Vogue, Stereogum and other outlets. She earned her bachelor\u2019s in journalism and master\u2019s in social and cultural analysis from New York University.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Paiute Tribe of Bishop, California, on Thursday became the first group to connect to the state\u2019s middle-mile…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[111459,30625,7,9,111460,8,5037,111461,71372,3579,111462],"class_list":{"0":"post-250361","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-bishop-paiute-tribe","9":"tag-broadband","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-california-headlines","12":"tag-california-middle-mile-broadband-network","13":"tag-california-news","14":"tag-gov-gavin-newsom","15":"tag-middle-mile-network","16":"tag-state-local-news","17":"tag-tech-news","18":"tag-tribal-broadband"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}