The weekly federal-spending brief. One email a Sunday. Free. No tracking.
The BuildoutBeta
Awards/PROJECT GRANT (B)

$43,943,116

Department of Commerce·National Telecommunications and Information Administration

to MESCALERO APACHE TELECOM INC.

telecomactive
WORK BEGAN2022-08-01·LATEST ACTION·SOURCEUSASPENDING·SOURCE IDASST_NON_NT22TBC0290064_013
Award description

THE PROJECT PROPOSES THE FOLLOWING ACTIVITIES DESIGNED TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO, AND USE OF, BROADBAND SERVICES AMONG TRIBAL MEMBERS: ENGAGE IN OUTSIDE PLANT DESIGN, ENGINEERING, UNDERGROUND AND AERIAL CONSTRUCTION, SHELTER INSTALLATION, TOWER CONSTRUCTION, AND EQUIPMENT CONFIGURATION; THE PROJECT PROPOSES THE FOLLOWING ACTIVITIES DESIGNED TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO, AND USE OF, BROADBAND SERVICES AMONG TRIBAL MEMBERS: ENGAGE IN OUTSIDE PLANT DESIGN, ENGINEERING, UNDERGROUND AND AERIAL CONSTRUCTION, SHELTER INSTALLATION, TOWER CONSTRUCTION, AND EQUIPMENT CONFIGURATION; CONSTRUCT NEW MIDDLE MILE FIBER OPTIC TRANSPORT TO POINTS OF PRESENCE (POP) AT EL PASO, TX TO ENABLE CONNECTION TO THE TEXAS LONE STAR NETWORK; INSTALL FIXED WIRELESS FOR MOBILE APPLICATIONS TO BE USED; ADD 14 TOWERS TO THE 7 EXISTING TOWERS TO DEPLOY 2.5 GHZ SPECTRUM SERVICE, PROVIDE ACCESS TO CELLULAR SERVICES, AND INCREASE ACCESS TO FIRSTNET - A DEDICATED PUBLIC SAFETY NETWORK;

Verbatim from USAspending.gov. Capitalization, abbreviations, and codes are unchanged.

The Buildout's read

What the model surfaced from this award

Confidence: high
In plain English

Build broadband and wireless infrastructure for Mescalero Apache tribal members, including fiber optic middle-mile transport, fixed wireless, and cellular towers.

Sub-sectors
broadband-infrastructuretribal-connectivityfirstnet-public-safety
Why this matters

Expands broadband access to underserved tribal communities and integrates FirstNet public safety network coverage in rural New Mexico.

Supply-chain signal

Drives demand for fiber optic cable, wireless equipment, tower construction, and shelter/shelter installation services in rural Southwest.

U.S.–China competition angle

Strengthens U.S. domestic broadband infrastructure resilience in tribal territories, reducing reliance on foreign telecom equipment and services.

Generated by award_classification v2.0.0 via claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 on 2026-05-15. Cost: $0.002534.

Period of performance
Start
2022-08-01
End
2027-07-31
Status
activein 438 days
Sources

The Buildout does not edit federal records. Any inaccuracy reflects the upstream source; it will update here when corrected there.