New Mexico-based NMSurf is raising questions about a Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program provisional award in the state.
According to the NMSurf press release, Sacred Wind Communications received a $29 million BEAD award to overbuild areas in Santa Fe County that already are served by NMSurf. According to the press release, Sacred Wind Communications received $22 million to fund a project that will reach 1,071 locations, which equates to about $27,000 per location.
NMSurf says it reaches about three-quarters of the locations with fixed wireless access (FWA) service that meets the BEAD minimum of 100 Mbps download, 20 Mbps upload, and less than 100 ms latency.
“This is a textbook example of wasteful federal spending,” NMSurf founder and CEO Albert Catanach said in a press release. “Taxpayer dollars are duplicating service while unserved communities across New Mexico are still waiting for broadband.”
NMSurf is asking the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and New Mexico’s Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE) to use Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Broadband Data Collection maps to define unserved areas and halt overbuilding where qualifying service already exists.
The press release also asks for guarantees that veteran-owned small providers get a fair chance to compete, though there is no assertion in the press release that this is not happening.
Sacred Wind Communications did not respond to Telecompetitor’s request for a comment on the NMSurf criticism of the BEAD award.
In late June, the OBAE said that it received 42 applications asking for $675 million in funding in the Benefit of the Bargain phase. The state has received a total of 87 applications to bring service to more than 44,000 unserved locations.
This is not the first bit of controversy about the program. Of course, there was a significant change with the transition in administrations.
Last month, SpaceX sent a long letter of objections regarding Virginia’s BEAD Program Final Proposal to the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). The letter claimed the DHCD did not adequately shift focus between the administrations. The context, of course, is that Elon Musk, who was a controversial part of the new administration, is SpaceX’s chairman, CEO, and CTO.
Additional information about broadband in New Mexico, including links to state funding resources and grant awards made, BEAD news, state-specific Telecompetitor coverage, and more can be found on the Broadband Nation webpage for the state.
