{"id":32383,"date":"2023-08-09T16:55:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-09T22:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/southern-ute-indian-tribe-selects-company-to-manage-new-fiber-broadband-internet\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:56:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:56:50","slug":"southern-ute-indian-tribe-selects-company-to-manage-new-fiber-broadband-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/southern-ute-indian-tribe-selects-company-to-manage-new-fiber-broadband-internet\/","title":{"rendered":"Southern Ute Indian Tribe selects company to manage new fiber broadband internet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The Southern Ute Indian Tribe announced Monday it\u2019s selected Bonfire Fiber, a broadband internet provider, to manage and operate its new fiber broadband internet network. Bonfire is accepting sign-ups from residents of seven area communities, including Ignacio, Florida Mesa and Arboles, which could help indicate what areas are prioritized for service. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Southern Ute Indian Tribe picked a company called Bonfire Fiber to manage and operate its fiber broadband network, which could connect nearly 2,800 residents with high-speed internet.<\/p>\n

The broadband internet service will be open access, where retail internet providers can sell their services over the network. A news release from the tribe says the open access model will stimulate market competition, allowing residents and businesses to choose the service provider that best meets their needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis step by the Tribe will change broadband on the Reservation, paving the way for greater access to the internet,\u201d the release says.<\/p>\n

Jeff Engman, Southern Ute Indian Tribe\u2019s chief information officer, said open access will improve broadband speed, quality and affordability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe relationship with Bonfire Fiber is an important Tribal step toward bridging the digital divide and fostering digital equity,\u201d Engman said.<\/p>\n

Engman previously told KSJD the reservation on Southern Ute land is covered by wireless providers that don\u2019t meet \u201cwhat we call a modern standard.\u201d KSJD reported households on the reservation do not currently have any fiber internet access.<\/p>\n

The development will improve education and health care access and make room for more job opportunities, the release says.<\/p>\n

Tribal residents and business owners from seven broad service areas, including Arboles, Florida Mesa and the town of Ignacio, can signup for service online at bonfirefiber.servicezones.net\/southernute<\/a>. Bonfire Fiber\u2019s website says signups could sway how areas are prioritized for the new fiber broadband service.<\/p>\n

cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect number of how many people are expected to be connected to high-speed internet as part of a new fiber broadband internet network involving the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. Incorrect information was given to the Herald<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

accepting sign-ups for service<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[364,28,1235,275,475,629],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-32383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-community","tag-headlines","tag-ignacio","tag-internet","tag-la-plata-county-colorado","tag-southern-ute-indian-tribe"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32383"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81774,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32383\/revisions\/81774"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32383"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=32383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}