Fiber Internet Project

We have secured more than $33 million to upgrade our current service area to fiber-to-the-home

Project Update - Summer 2024

Phase 1 - Two Medicine & Heart Butte

• Fiber construction continues in the Two Medicine and Heart Butte areas. We are working with our contractor partners Spy Ego - Panaea in Two Medicine and Up G LLC in Heart Butte. We are happy with the progress this summer.

• The main line Fiber Infrastructure placement is continuing in the month of August.

• We anticipate bringing fiber drops directly to homes in Two Medicine and Heart Butte throughout the month of September.

• We are hopeful to begin turning up service to customers on the new fiber network in both Two Medicine and Heart Butte in October, November & December as long as weather permits.

• Customers in Two Medicine and Heart Butte – we will be reaching out to you to determine if you want to keep your current speed/price package plan or if you want to upgrade. Watch your email inbox, mailbox, our Facebook page and our website for info starting in September/October.

Phase 2 - Blackfoot, Star School (including some areas in North Browning) & Flat Iron

After main line construction wraps up in Two Medicine & Heart Butte, our contractors will begin placing main line Fiber Infrastructure in the areas of Blackfoot, Starr School (including North Browning) & Flat Iron. We will work as long as weather permits in ’24; in the spring of ’25 we will pick up where we left off in the fall.

Phase 3 – East Glacier, Babb, St. Mary, Milk River, Duck Lake & Meriwether

After Phase 2 is complete, we will begin working in Phase 3 communities. We will provide anticipated start dates as we get closer to completion of Phase 2.

The City of Browning is being done in small sections as well.

Fiber Project Description

• The project has been separated into 11 service areas, and 3 phases. You may see the 11 service areas on the color coded map on this page.

• We anticipate doing 4 service areas (5 communities) first, and the final 3 service areas (7 communities-East Glacier, Babb, St. Mary, Milk River, Duck Lake, Blackfoot & Meriwether) in 2025 or beyond.

  • This timeline is dependent on getting all necessary approvals, including cultural approvals, so construction can proceed.

• We plan to get started with the first 4 service areas (phase 1) in the first construction season. Those areas are:

  • Two Medicine

  • Heart Butte

  • Starr School

  • Flat Iron

  • Browning

• If approvals and construction go to plan, we hope to have enough construction completed in 2024 to start connecting customers to the fiber network in late 2024, and continue through winter.

• Fiber projects are heavily impacted by satisfactory weather. Main line fiber and ‘drops’ to homes need to be done before the ground is frozen. Connecting customers can be done in the winter since no construction is needed to do installations.

• If construction falls behind our anticipated plan, we will begin in the spring where we left off in late fall. Over winter we will work hard to secure necessary approvals to keep the project on track.

• We expect phases 2 & 3 will follow the same cadence as phase 1.

• Fiber Internet is WORTH the wait, but we are eager to get it to you as soon as possible.

What is the Fiber Internet project & how does it help you?

You may have many questions about the fiber project or the benefits of fiber. Our intent is to answer those questions for you with the info on this page. For easy skimming, we have presented info in question/answer format.

Why all this fuss about fiber?

• You’ll get virtually unlimited bandwidth/speed.

  • Internet is often described by how ‘fast’ it is; speed is a shortcut word to understand bandwidth.

  • More ‘speed’ is really a wider ‘road’ providing more bandwidth to use.

  • A wider road allows more devices to do more road hogging tasks, like stream video and FaceTime.

  • Siyeh Fiber is the product everyone wants to have.

• Fiber allows the same ‘speed’ for both upload and download. That matters A LOT for video chat, telemedicine, and gaming.

• Your fiber network will have speeds from 100Mb (both upload & download) to 1,000Mb (1 Gigabit).

• Fiber is extremely reliable, and can be enhance to 10Gig (or more) with upgraded electronics.

The foundation for future communications - fiber optics

• The newest and best way to deliver communications services is with fiber optic technology.

• Fiber allows for ultra-fast, ultra-reliable, unlimited Internet. (more on Internet speeds later)

• Constructing a fiber network the size we are undertaking is expensive and it requires time.

• As you know the tribe formed Siyeh Development to assist building economic opportunities for tribe members and our region.

• One of the ways they have done that is by gaining control of the license to provide communication services to our region. Siyeh Communications was formed to operate the FCC licensed communications company, and properly invest the funds that are available to bring communications services to our areas.

Building the future with a $33 million grant for the fiber project

• The next step taken was to apply for and receive a grant to allow Siyeh Communications to build a ‘fiber-to-the-home’ network to every home and business in our coverage area.

• That $33 million award was made in 2022, and engineering and construction plans are underway.

• As you might guess, a project of this size will take between 3 and 4 years to fully complete.

What technology brings me my Internet today?

• Most of our customers get their Internet over copper wires buried in the ground, and we use a technology called DSL to deliver your Internet. It is good, but fiber is extraordinary!

• A few customers may try to get Internet via their cellular provider, but it can be very spotty and sporadic. Fiber is SO MUCH better!

• These choices don’t compare to fiber; Only fiber can provide the bandwidth (ultra-fast speed), and reliability you deserve.