The network, backed up by a 550-mile fiber backbone and microwave links, could make the Internet bloom for about 30,000 households in the Navajo Nation, which stretches across a vast region encompassing parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Fewer than 10 percent of the homes and businesses in the Nation have broadband today, according to Monroe Keedo, IT manager for Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA), a multiservice utility that will operate the network. Mobile service is limited to 2G (second-generation) technology.

NTUA hopes to hear this week or next that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved its application for a grant of about US$46 million to link this area to the Internet. The utility already has one LTE base station operating in a test, and if all goes as planned, service would be commercially available to some residents in the fourth quarter. It could come online around the same time as some of the first LTE networks planned by giant Verizon Wireless, which has said it will have 25 to 30 markets operational by the end of the year.

The Navajo network is bringing cutting-edge technology to a region that is years behind much of the U.S. in terms of communications. In addition to most homes not having a broadband option, many public facilities are poorly linked. For example, many schools in the Navajo Nation don't have a fast enough Internet connection to teach what they need to teach, Keedo said. With a median age of 24 in the Nation, education is a vital resource.

He envisions a future in which children who have to ride a bus two hours each way to school can do homework during the commute. Better connectivity would also enhance emergency services, and the tribe would be able to capture, record and share Navajo culture, including language, politics, lifestyle and religion, from community centers called Chapter houses, according to NTUA.

"This would be a very strong influence for change here on Navajo," Keedo said. "With the limited amount of broadband here on Navajo, a lot of things we take for granted off the reservation are not here." Counting four people per household, about 120,000 people would be within reach of the network. The Navajo Nation's total population is about 180,000. Some parts of it are already served by other broadband providers.

The project, which he estimated will take about three years to complete, is a joint effort between NTUA and Commnet Wireless, a regional carrier. NTUA will build the network around its electrical transmission towers and other infrastructure, and operate it with technical assistance from Commnet. Future Technologies Ventures is acting as a system integrator on the project.

NTUA's network, as envisioned, would offer impressive speeds. The fiber network will be able to carry 10G bps (bit per second) on a single fiber pair, and there will be 48 fiber pairs available to be lit. The fiber lines will go through 24 communities, with some "arterial" lines reaching out beyond the main cable. NTUA will reach 24 other communities through point-to-point microwave links from DragonWave that can offer speeds as high as 4G bps.