Kit Carson Electric Cooperative, Inc., has been awarded a $100,000 planning grant, paving the way for three unincorporated communities in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico to add more broadband.
The broadband grant funds come from the New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion’s (OBAE) Grant Writing, Engineering, and Planning Program (GWEP). GWEP has a total of $5 million in available funds to aid cooperatives, Tribal communities, and local governments get grants for expanding broadband to underserved areas.
According to the press release announcing the award, Kit Carson plans to use the grant to evaluate broadband needs and address future high-speed internet deployment in Hernandez, Chamita, and Alcalde — rural New Mexico communities just north of Española.
More specifically, the Cooperative will use the funds to finish a broadband engineering, network feasibility, and availability study for Hernandez, Chamita, and Alcalde, including identifying any broadband service gaps.
This is the Cooperative’s second GWEP grant; it received a similar award in the fall of 2025.
To date, OBAE has awarded 40 GWEP grants to entities, including 18 Tribal communities, 17 local governments and five rural electric and telephone cooperatives. There is still $955,000 remaining for GWEP grants. The maximum amount allowed for each award under this state program is $100,000. No matching funds are required.
GWEP awards must be used in the planning of infrastructure broadband projects in New Mexico — internet service providers are not eligible.
“This planning grant will play a critical role in ensuring broadband infrastructure is reliable and sustainable in these rural, unincorporated areas,” Jeff Lopez, OBAE director, said in a prepared statement. “We want to do everything possible to see that all hard-to-reach parts of the state are connected, and this grant will assist Kit Carson in getting vital information for needed future connectivity.”
More information about New Mexico broadband, including links to state funding resources, grants made, BEAD news, state-specific Telecompetitor coverage, and more can be found on Telecompetitor’s Broadband Nation webpage for the state.
