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Warm Springs Telecom Open for Business

WARM SPRINGS, Ore. - A breakthrough celebrated Friday in Warm Springs: Access to phone and internet service will now be widely available for tribal members thanks to their very own, tribally owned telecommunications company.

Warm Springs Telecom opened their doors Friday in a grand opening ceremony.

After five years of planning,the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs became the ninth tribe to start up their own telecommunications company.

Warm Springs leaders say it's a big step in connecting them beyond the reservation and improving their economy.

"I get to give back to my people here on the reservation," said Gabriel Walkier, a tribal member and now sales and marketing coordinator for Warm Springs Telecom.

"Having the ability to come back and work for the people for the reservation and bring back the experience I've had off the reservation," Walker said.

About one-third of people living on the Warm Springs Reservation don't have access to phone or Internet service. Now, everyone will get access to basic telephone service and broadband, high-speed Internet.

"I'm an entrepreneur, and I would like to use the access to the Internet, and I'm also sure a lot of people would feel the same way," said James Greely, a Warm Springs tribal member.

"I am really excited for the Internet," said reservation resident Amanda Frank. "I have been waiting to use the Internet for the past five years, to do some homework and other business stuff, and I haven't been able to do it."

The tribe received planning dollars for the project from federal agencies including the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Officials with the USDA say the move is important, to be competitive in the world.

"The president spoke the other night (in his State of the Union address) about building an America that lasts, and economy that lasts for America," said Dallas Tonsager the USDA's undersecretary for rural development. "I think this is a fundamental part of that."

Walker said, "Before that, there was no sort of broadband Internet out here on the reservation. And now, since we're able to bring it fully here, reaching out parts where no ones ever had it, the broadband is going to be major for them, so they can connect, like I said, back to the world."

Work to start connecting the area to the service starts this week, and Warm Springs Telecom hopes to get everyone connected to phone and Internet service within a year.