Last week, New Mexico’s Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE) announced more than $15 million in broadband infrastructure grants to entities through the state’s Connect New Mexico Fund.
The eight grants, totaling $15,440,719 were awarded to Pampa, Texas-based provider Resound Networks, and the Pueblos of Tesuque and Laguna.
Resound Networks received awards for six broadband infrastructure projects in Luna, Sierra, San Miguel, Colfax, Chavez and Eddy counties.
The Pueblo of Laguna received $4.86 million, the largest grant for a single project in this latest round of awards. The Pueblo of Tesuque was given $1.26 million.
The combined awards are expected to fund broadband infrastructure that will connect more than 4,600 homes, businesses, farms, and other locations in unserved and underserved areas in New Mexico.
These broadband grants bring the total awarded from the $70 million Connect New Mexico Fund to nearly $56 million, with nearly $40 million being awarded in August. The funds have gone to ISPs, telephone cooperatives, and tribal communities.
OBAE plans to award more Connect New Mexico Fund broadband grants in the near future.
“We are excited to announce these grants that demonstrate more progress in constructing broadband across rural parts of the state,” Drew Lovelace, acting director of the New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion, said in the announcement.
“These vital projects will mean connectivity to thousands of people, enabling them to participate in the digital world and allowing them access to such necessities as telehealth, education, economic development and government services.”
Last year, Resound Networks received final authorization from the FCC for winning bids in seven states in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) program. The company was the winning bidder for over $300 million in funding to cover some of the costs of deploying broadband to unserved and underserved rural areas, making it one of the top 10 winning bidders in the program.
