Navajo Nation may go weeks without Internet

By Felicia Fonseca

updated 2:57 p.m. ET April 14, 2008

All of seventh-grader Nikkolas Page's school assignments are done on the Internet.

He logs on to a computer each day at 1 p.m. at the Inscription House Chapter on the northwestern side of the Navajo Nation in Arizona, downloads his assignments, and when he's done, submits the answers online.

Twice a week, he's required to attend live sessions with other students and teachers.

The 12-year-old was in Flagstaff this past week doing standardized tests required of all Arizona public school students, but he might find his online schooling is not as easy to do this week.

The chapter house, which operates like a city government, was one of about 70 where Internet service was shuttered a week ago. OnSat Network Communications Inc., the company that had provided the service, said that's because it has not received $2.1 million in federal funds needed to pay a subcontractor for satellite time.

The Universal Service Administration Co., which administers the E-rate program, is withholding the funding because of a tribal audit that showed OnSat may have double-billed the tribe. The audit also raised questions about how the tribe requested bids for the Internet contract.

Tribal officials say it could be a couple of weeks before service is restored to chapter houses across the 27,000 square-mile reservation. They've been meeting with other Internet service providers to explore their options. Utah-based OnSat, meanwhile, has offered to reconnect the affected chapter houses, if they pay out of their own pockets.

A spokesman for Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. has suggested that chapter houses use budget contingency money to pay for the service.

Inscription House Chapter officials say they're working quickly to restore the service.

For Page's mother, Wendy Page, sending her son to public school is not an option, and driving more than an hour into Page, Ariz., to access the Internet every day really isn't either.

"Can you imagine going 120 miles a day with our gas prices in the local area at $3.60 a gallon?" she said. "That's going to cause a big impact."

Wendy Page has two other students who attend Page High School — one of whom has been staying three hours longer so that she can access the Internet now that the chapter house's service is down.

"They don't even know what (an) encyclopedia is," Page said. "All they know is the Internet search for their homework."

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