Shinnecock Nation, Canadian Firm Partner to Bring Low-Cost Broadband to Reservation

Phil Brown's ambitions for Shinnecock territory run considerably further than affordable internet. As president of Waa Nee Shee Energy LLC, the Shinnecock-based energy and technology company he founded, Brown helped finalize a joint venture in February with Mage Networks, a Calgary-based telecommunications firm, to establish a broadband center on Shinnecock tribal land near Southampton. The deal marks Mage's first entry into the New York market.

Mage Networks has built its business around connecting rural and remote communities to reliable high-speed internet, and the Shinnecock partnership fits squarely within that model. Headquartered in Alberta, the company designs, deploys and operates its own networks to deliver broadband wireless internet in areas where traditional infrastructure cannot reach.

Brown said his goal is to bring the center directly to Shinnecock territory and employ up to a dozen tribal members there. He estimated the cost of service at between $40 and $60 a month. The venture would also extend workforce training and employment to people from surrounding communities outside the reservation, Brown said.

Plans call for constructing a 10,000-square-foot building on Shinnecock land to anchor the initial operation, with additional locations outside the reservation envisioned as the partnership expands. The center is intended to share technology, manufacturing and workforce development capacity as Waa Nee Shee and Mage pursue broadband connectivity throughout the broader region, not just the Southampton reservation itself.

Billing and back-office operations would be handled by Mage from its Alberta headquarters, according to Ron Tabbitas, a partner in the venture at Selden-based Dynamic Supplier Alignment Inc., who has previously worked with the Shinnecock Nation on housing initiatives.

Brown also serves as housing director for the Shinnecock Nation, though that governmental role is separate from his private company. Waa Nee Shee is working with Ignite Long Island, a Long Island industry group, to secure funding for the operation.

A prior federal broadband initiative had proposed to connect 301 unserved Native American households on the Shinnecock territory, providing enrolled members with service at speeds between 50/10 Mbps and 1000/1000 Mbps. The Waa Nee Shee and Mage venture represents a tribally controlled approach, with the Shinnecock community at the center of both the ownership structure and the workforce it intends to build. No construction start date or financing total for the project has been announced.