[1st-mile-nm] CARES Act Funding Goes Toward Expanding New Mexico Broadband

[Richard Lowenberg]

Redi-Net, a community broadband network owned and operated by local and 
tribal governments, will be tasked with installing the infrastructure 
that local officials say will benefit areas with limited connectivity.

BY ISABELLA ALVES, ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL / DECEMBER 14, 2020

https://www.govtech.com/network/CARES-Act-Funding-Goes-Toward-Expanding-New-Mexico-Broadband.html

(TNS) — Having an internet connection may seem like a given for most 
people. Most of us use it for work, entertainment and basic necessities 
in a 21st Century world.

But for people living in rural areas, broadband connection is not only 
not always a given, but also sometimes is not even available.

This is the reality for many people living in rural northern New Mexico, 
including parts of Santa Fe County. The Santa Fe County Commission 
recently approved up to $1 million in CARES Act funding to expand 
broadband infrastructure along N.M. 76 from east of Española to Chimayó.

Redi-Net, a community broadband network owned and operated by local and 
tribal governments, will be tasked with installing the infrastructure 
that local officials say will benefit schools, businesses and residents 
in areas that have limited connectivity, or none at all.

Española Public Schools Superintendent  Fred Trujillo said the expansion 
will have a huge impact on the Chimayó community and the students living 
in that area.

"More importantly, it's going to affect the community of Chimayó itself 
simply because now there's going to be an outlet for them to have some 
type of affordable internet accessibility," he said.

Since the pandemic began, the district has determined that about a third 
of its students don't have internet access, prompting it to set up hot 
spots to offer free internet in school parking lots.

Still, it can be incredibly difficult to get signals in such areas as 
Chimayó, 16 miles east of Española.

Learning that broadband would be expanded into the area was some of the 
best news the district has gotten in a long time, Trujillo said. There 
are quite a few students that attend Chimayó Elementary School, he said.

"I can only hope that we will see it not only expanding through Santa Fe 
County that has part of our district, but also to Rio Arriba County and 
all of northern New Mexico," Trujillo said. "We have seen across the 
state that rural New Mexico has some access problems with the internet. 
And so, hopefully, we'll start seeing more of these funds being utilized 
to bring that access to more communities."

Prioritizing broadband

For Commissioner  Anna Hansen , broadband access isn't a new issue. She 
ran for office in 2016 on a campaign platform that included increasing 
broadband access.

"I realize this is really serious, because here we have people who are 
willing to pay and they can't get broadband," said Hansen, who 
represents District 2, which includes some of the county's more upscale 
neighborhoods northwest of Santa Fe. "We don't have fiber in the ground 
out there."

The lack of connectivity affects her constituents in Las Campanas and La 
  Tierra Nueva , she said.

For example, one resident of La  Tierra Nueva  had a job tutoring 
children. But she was unable to get an internet connection strong enough 
to stay online.

Some of the communities in that part of the county rely on older copper 
wire technology for their internet, Redi-Net board member  Jerrold Baca  
says. And the farther away from the source, the slower the speed.

Neighborhoods in the area are beautiful and the homes are far apart, but 
it's horrible for technology, he said.

Redi-Net tried to service those areas, but ran into easement struggles 
with covenants. The residents love their community and don't want to see 
powerlines hanging on poles, Baca said.

Another option would be to bury the fiber optic cable underground, but 
navigating around existing infrastructure can be difficult and it's much 
more costly, he said.

Jon Ehret , La Tierra Nueva Homeowner's Association board member, said 
the board has heard more about broadband service from residents 
recently. He said the main service provider in the area is NMSurf, which 
does a pretty good job and has few outages.

People in the area northwest of N.M. 599 would like to have better 
service, but residents are realistic about their service options due to 
where they choose to live, he said.

Henry Roybal , who chairs the Santa Fe County Commission and represents 
District 1 at the north end of the county, said improving broadband 
service is a priority for the County Commission.

He says the funding approved by the commission will have a huge impact 
on the constituents living in that area.

He knows this from personal experience. Some of his nieces and nephews 
came to live with him for a couple of weeks because they didn't have 
internet service at their homes to access their online schooling.

'One stop shop'

The Dec. 1 commission meeting featured a presentation from Redi-Net 
Chairman  Raymond Ortiz , who went over how Redi-Net plans and engineers 
broadband projects. Ortiz said Redi-Net has shovel-ready projects it 
prepares in advance and then reaches out to local governments to 
implement them.

Redi-Net is a quasi-government organization that partners with local 
government to expand broadband infrastructure. This type of setup works 
well because the company is owned and operated by a consortium of local 
and tribal governments and isn't profit-driven.

"You can't have that level of freedom and control, and that level of 
movement, to make some of the decisions we've made here at Redi-Net if 
you're constantly beholden to some corporate entity that's taking the 
profits and throwing them somewhere else," he said.

Redi-Net started about 14 years ago to help expand broadband in northern 
New Mexico. In some areas, the broadband connection is subpar, in 
others, it's completely nonexistent, Ortiz told the Journal in an 
interview.

For example, the community of Cundiyo doesn't have broadband. Redi-Net 
is currently working with the community for permission to set up a tower 
to service that area, he said.

Ortiz described Redi-Net as a "one stop shop" for broadband service 
because the organization can engineer and plan broadband projects, as 
well as do installations. When Redi-Net completes a broadband project, 
the entities, be they Santa Fe County or Santa Clara Pueblo, own it.

Baca, Redi-Net board member for the Santa Clara Pueblo, said the 
pandemic has highlighted the need for high-speed internet. In the past, 
the internet was fast enough to download movies, but people aren't doing 
that as much any more. These days, most people stream movies, use the 
internet when working from home and their children are using it to 
access virtual classes.

Part of the project along N.M. 76 will bring service to Santa Clara 
Pueblo. Baca said the pueblo's decision to join Redi-Net came down to 
faith in the technology and understanding who it's going to serve.

"All pueblos are very aware of the cultural aspect to it of the sacred 
sites," he said. "You don't want a big beautiful view ruined by a 
75-foot tower. But Santa Clara was understanding of, one, the need for 
it, and, two, the faith that Redi-Net would address the cultural respect 
that (the pueblo) deserves."

Potential to expand

Chris Hyer , Redi-Net board member for Santa Fe County, said the county 
has been able to identify another project they can do with CARES Act 
money. It includes installing broadband in the Santa Cruz area and 
serving the crisis center on the McCurdy Charter School campus.

The project would also go to public housing, the community center and 
the Boys and Girls Club in that area, he said.

The money the Santa Fe County Commission approved will also be used to 
build "off ramps" of fiber off N.M. 76 to serve such communities as 
Truchas, Cordova, Nambé and others.

"It's really hard to get an understanding of what Redi-Net is because 
it's the only place, I think, in the world where you have sovereign 
nations, counties, municipalities plus council of governments all coming 
together, working together, to where we share all our easements and 
everything together. And we all try to benefit each other," Hyer said.

Generally speaking, access to broadband isn't considered a government 
function, which may be part of the problem,  Joseph R. Montoya , Santa 
Fe County Housing Authority executive director, said.

To help install fiber, the county is looking at a dig-once policy, he 
said. That means when the county is building a road, for instance, it 
would install utility lines at the same time. This saves money, while 
also ensuring areas have the utility connections they need.

For the most part, internet has been a private sector initiative, he 
said. However, there are communities, such as Ammon, Idaho, that have 
taken it upon themselves to create their own citywide fiber network for 
residents, Baca said. In 2008, the Ammon City Council declared internet 
a city utility and, in 2016, got judicial confirmation.

Now, Ammon has some of the lowest internet costs in the county. In 2018, 
residents connected to the city's fiber network paid an average of $16 a 
month for access.

That's a model Baca said Redi-Net has studied and it has been in contact 
with Ammon to discuss their fiber strategies.

"That is a great goal of Redi-Net," said Hyer. "We're 
quasi-governmental. We're volunteers; none of us is paid. We're not here 
to make money. We're here to provide the service for the community."


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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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