WARM SPRINGS, Ore. (AP) – A new tribally owned telecommunications company is bringing high-speed Internet, telephone and video to the Warm Springs Reservation in central Oregon.

Board members of the company said the upgrade will bring many new opportunities to the reservation, where about a third of the homes have no phone service.

KTVZ-TV in Bend reports the tribes are getting $5.6 million in federal stimulus money to help build the new company, which will provide basic phone service, broadband Internet and eventually video for the entire community.

KTVZ says that, out of more than 500 Indian tribes nationally, the Warm Springs tribes are only the ninth to have their own telecommunications company. Officials held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday and expect to open for business this fall.

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Information from: KTVZ-TV, http://www.ktvz.com/