Local roots, national reach: Native Network grows with broadband boom

When Jenny Rickel addressed the Chelan-Douglas Regional Port Authority on March 24, she described a business that began locally but now operates across the country, helping build broadband infrastructure in some of the most underserved areas in the United States.

Native Network, founded in 2015, works primarily with Native American tribes to design and deploy internet systems, a niche that has grown rapidly alongside federal investment in rural broadband.

“About 95 percent of our business is actually working with Native American organizations,” Rickel told commissioners.

That work includes helping tribes navigate grant applications, engineering networks, selecting equipment and overseeing construction, often serving as an owner’s representative to ensure projects are completed to standard.

The company’s focus on tribal broadband grew out of earlier work in the telecommunications industry. Rickel described a career that began in the 1990s with Cellular One, followed by building and selling a regional telecom company and later leading the Greater Wenatchee Area Technology Alliance, or GWATA.

Native Network itself emerged during a period when gaps in broadband access were becoming more visible, particularly in rural and tribal communities.

“We started working with tribes and really seeing that internet infrastructure is what’s lacking,” Rickel said. “You get out onto these reservations and more rural areas, and there’s still a big gap.”

That lack of connectivity comes despite the Pacific Northwest being located on a major hub of what data center engineers consider an interstate system of “dark fiber” that carries the most data in the United States, along with points in California, Texas and Virginia.

Even with that need, the company struggled to gain traction in its early years.

“In about 2019 or 2020, we may have shut Native Network down,” she said. “We had great early customers, but we were not getting the traction that would create a sustainable company.”

That changed when federal funding for tribal broadband increased dramatically during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing the company to expand its work across multiple states, including Arizona, New Mexico and Florida.

In New Mexico, Rickel said Native Network is helping develop a fiber network intended to connect tribal schools statewide.

While much of its work now happens outside the region, the company remains based in Wenatchee and is beginning to expand its presence locally.

Rickel said Native Network has long had the ability to operate as an internet service provider in Chelan and Douglas counties but only recently began offering residential service.

“We’ve always had the capability,” she said. “But only in the last year have we decided to serve residential [customers] and really gear up for that.”

Commissioners asked about the company’s local footprint and how it compares to established providers.

Rickel said Native Network currently serves about 1,000 customers in the region, a small share of the market compared to larger providers, but one the company hopes to grow.

She noted that customer behavior can be slow to shift.

“Unless something’s wrong, there’s no reason to switch,” she said. “We totally get that.”

Instead, the company emphasizes network reliability, including maintaining connections in multiple directions so service can continue even if part of the system is disrupted.

Rickel also pointed to the role of Chelan County PUD’s fiber network, which allows multiple providers to operate over the same infrastructure while expanding available speeds.

“The cool thing is that the PUD’s fiber pipes are getting bigger,” she said, describing the shift from earlier 100-megabit connections to significantly faster service now reaching hundreds of megabits or more.

As speeds increase, she said, many customers are running into a different limitation inside their homes.

“The routers that people have are not really ready for that,” Rickel said. “My router, I thought I just got it yesterday, and it’s already five years old.”

Rickel also pointed to emerging opportunities to extend service into harder-to-reach areas, including new wireless approaches being explored in parts of Chelan County where traditional fiber connections are more difficult, like the south shore of Lake Chelan.

As Native Network expands, hiring has become one of its biggest challenges.

“We are hiring, and we are hiring fast,” Rickel said, noting a need for project managers, technical staff and administrative support.

She encouraged commissioners to help spread the word locally, saying traditional hiring channels have not kept pace with demand.

The presentation also served as a reminder of how local infrastructure connects to broader national trends. While the Wenatchee Valley benefits from a robust fiber network, Rickel said many of the communities Native Network works with are still building that foundation.

For Rickel, the company’s growth reflects both opportunity and responsibility.

“We really would like to grow here,” she said. “We’re committed to the local market.”

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media