The New Mexico communities of Valencia County, the Pueblo of Laguna, and the Pueblo of Acoma each received $100,000 broadband planning grants from the Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE).
The grants support critical infrastructure planning and aids in competition for additional federal funding.
The OBAE stated that it still has $1.9 million in Grant Writing, Engineering, and Planning Program (GWEP) funds. These funds must be dispersed by next June.
The New Mexico GWEP broadband grants program, which is open to Tribal governments, local governments, rural telephone cooperatives, and rural electric cooperatives, offers four benefits, according to the OBAE:
- There is no matching fund regimen
- Non-competitive assistance grants aim to promote broadband infrastructure projects in areas without broadband service
- Multiple awards are allowed — entities remain eligible for a second grant
- An array of uses — including strategic planning, engineering services, grant writing, and infrastructure analysis — are eligible
To date, there have been 31 broadband grants made through the New Mexico program: three to Tribal communities, 14 to local governments, and three to rural cooperatives.
Helping organizations in their efforts to gain further funding may be an especially significant benefit of participating. Last month, The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced changes to the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. This occurred so late in the process that there is little doubt that help will be welcome. New Mexico was allocated $675 million in BEAD funding.
The OBAE is having a busy summer. Last week, it announced a $1.5 million grant to Transworld Network LLC to provide broadband to 484 unserved or underserved rural students and faculty of the Silver Consolidated School District, which serves the students of Silver City.
The funding, part of the $25 million Student Connect program, will be used to construct towers and provide fixed wireless services and receivers to program recipients.
