[1st-mile-nm] New Mexico still lagging despite broadband investments

[Richard Lowenberg]

I have unfortunately not been able to schedule my attending the TorC or 
ABQ broadband meetings yesterday or today.  Though much has been 
achieved, the article below reads like it could have been written almost 
ten years ago.  I think that some very different approaches to 
aggregation and innovation need to be taken, rather than steps forward 
followed by steps backward, with little coherent long-range phased 
planning and deployments from public-private partnering.  Easy to say, 
hard to do.
R.

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New Mexico still lagging despite broadband investments

By Susan Montoya Bryan | Associated Press

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/new-mexico-still-lagging-despite-broadband-investments/article_f43f0827-df34-58f2-9a51-dec83c0a5ee9.html

ALBUQUERQUE — More than $300 million has been funneled to New Mexico in 
recent years to boost broadband access for schools, hospitals and other 
institutions, but many rural areas remain unserved, a report says.

Legislative analysts outlined their findings in the report for state 
lawmakers, saying New Mexico lags when it comes to high-speed internet 
and efforts to address access are disjointed and scattered across 
multiple agencies.

Boosting broadband has been a long-standing challenge for New Mexico. 
Federal and state officials are hosting workshops this week in Truth or 
Consequences and Albuquerque to bring civil leaders and experts 
together.

Federal officials point to census figures that show almost 30 percent of 
New Mexico residents have no internet subscription of any type while 55 
percent of residents have a subscription such as fiber, cable or DSL at 
home.

That means nearly half the homes in New Mexico don’t currently benefit 
from a high-speed broadband connection.

Legislative analysts looked at how New Mexico compares to other states 
and territories and found it trails all but Mississippi and Puerto Rico 
in household broadband penetration. Two of New Mexico’s neighbors — Utah 
and Colorado — rank in the top five most connected states while Arizona 
ranked 14th.

Vince Martinez, head of the New Mexico Department of Information 
Technology, described the problem during a recent legislative meeting as 
being a “huge issue” centered on the state’s rural nature.

“What we are attempting to do is provide broadband to 15 percent to 20 
percent of the population of the state of New Mexico that live in 85 
percent of the land mass,” he said, noting that the cost to lay fiber 
optic cable can run as high as $70,000 a mile.

Martinez estimated that broadband investments would have to be doubled 
or even tripled to meet the state’s goals. He expects to have a better 
idea about costs in the coming months.

His agency has commissioned an analysis of the needs and gaps for 
existing and future broadband deployment in the state.

The department also has been working to coordinate governmental and 
private sector stakeholders through a working group and a new advisory 
committee.

Legislative analysts have said that such communication will be key given 
the disparate and complex nature of broadband development. They also 
said in their report that New Mexico’s previous experience with similar 
groups should serve as a cautionary example of well-intentioned plans 
that lack follow-through.

Currently, New Mexico doesn’t have formalized goals or a unified 
broadband policy with respect to oversight, funding and infrastructure. 
Rather, multiple agencies claim some responsibility for different parts 
of the overall system.

Maine, Minnesota, Virginia and Washington have all created central 
authorities with strong directives to oversee statewide broadband 
activities.

Most of the money invested in New Mexico projects between 2015 and 2018 
came through federal channels. The state’s share has included 
appropriations for planning and capital projects and allocations from 
the state rural universal service fund.



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Richard Lowenberg, Executive Director
1st-Mile Institute     505-603-5200
Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504,
rl at 1st-mile.org     www.1st-mile.org
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