The Federal Communications Commission has approved $521,000 in funding over 10 years to be distributed to Red-Spectrum Communications, a broadband provider owned and operated by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe. 

The funds, which come from the FCC’s Connect America Fund, will be used to expand broadband access in Benewah County, where much of the Coeur d’Alene Reservation is located. 

The funding will enable Plummer, Idaho-based Red-Spectrum Communications to provide about 185 underserved homes and businesses, including some in tribal areas, with broadband capable of download speeds of at least 25 megabits per second and upload speeds of at least three Mbps, the FCC says in a press release. The upload and download speeds are the FCC’s current standards for high-speed internet.

A representative of Red-Spectrum Communications couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.

Broadband providers that receive funding through Connect America must build a network that can be accessed by 40% of the assigned homes and businesses within three years. Each subsequent year, the network must be expanded by 20%, with complete buildout expected by the end of the sixth year.

According to a 2014 letter to the FCC, Red-Spectrum has been operating as an unsubsidized broadband provider since 2005. A map on its website shows its service area extends from east of Medical Lake to the eastern edge of Kootenai County, and north from the Deer Park area to the southern boundary of Benewah County.