In California alone, 2.3 million 5G-related jobs and an additional $25.3 billion in gross domestic product can be developed by 2025 according to an Accenture study commissioned by San Diego-based Qualcomm. Telecommunication companies, such as Crown Castle and carriers like Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, are working overtime to deploy 5G infrastructure in San Diego County and across the country. Not only will investing in this infrastructure help provide internet access for more people, it will also create jobs. The digital divide in all communities is critical and an issue that needs to be addressed quickly.

Today, we rely on different forms of digital communications, not only for online schooling, but to make appointments, health care and to order billions of dollars of goods and services. Their community health and education initiatives, including community college courses have continued remotely. An expensive investment at the time, this infrastructure has improved over the years and is set up for new innovations, such as 5G, to be quickly deployed to the reservation.Īs the current pandemic unraveled, their wireless infrastructure has proved critical to the reservation’s residents. What has differentiated Sycuan from other reservations in San Diego County? Despite the inability to profit from agriculture and cattle, they have invested in economic development projects that have led to successful ventures, such as their casino, a high-rise hotel, a golf course, downtown San Diego hotels, a bay boat anchorage and other businesses with over 2,000 employees.Ī decade or so ago, the Sycuan tribal government recognized opportunity and allied itself with a private cable company to bring fiber optic technology to the reservation, providing its residents with fast and reliable internet. Nonetheless Sycuan’s people have succeeded, despite all odds being stacked against them. It was a rough new home in a very poor area. One square mile became home to a rural band of Mission Indians on land that lacked resources and wasn’t suitable for farming.

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