RED CLIFF, WI (AP)-- A Native American tribe in Wisconsin is constructing a cell tower that's part of a multibillion-dollar effort to build a nationwide public safety broadband network to improve emergency communications.
Wisconsin Public Radio reports that the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa broke ground on the 300-foot tower on its reservation Wednesday.
The tribe is working on the project with AT&T and the First Responder Network Authority, an independent agency established by Congress in 2012.
The tower will improve communications on the tip of northern Wisconsin following the drowning deaths of four people in the Apostle Islands last summer. Their calls for help on Lake Superior went unanswered for hours because of poor cell service.
Red Cliff Tribal Chairman Rick Peterson says the cell tower will avert future tragedies.
