Transworld Network LLC (TWN) is receiving a $1.5 million Student Connect grant from the New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE) to provide high-speed internet to rural students in the Lordsburg Municipal Schools District.
The grant will pay for the construction of wireless towers, fixed wireless access (FWA) infrastructure, and receivers for designated student homes in hard-to-reach parts of the Lordsburg area, with the goal of bringing FWA service to 395 student households that currently lack reliable home internet. Internet service will be provided at no charge for the first three years for participating students and school staff.
This broadband grant funding comes from OBAE’s Connect New Mexico Fund, established in 2021 through the Connect New Mexico Act. Lawmakers appropriated $25 million for public school projects.
“These Student Connect funds will change student lives in the Lordsburg area,” Neala Krueger, OBAE’s state grants program coordinator, said in a prepared statement. “Hundreds of students who attend Lordsburg schools can’t do homework online, apply to colleges or access learning resources when they leave school. That’s about to change.”
The Student Connect broadband grant is the second for TWN, which also received a $1.5 million award in July to connect 484 students in New Mexico’s Silver Consolidated School District.
Recently, Connect New Mexico touted that it had the highest percentage increase in residents receiving high-speed broadband — defined as at least 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload — of any state.
The organization points to Ookla research that found that, during the last six months of 2023 and the first six of 2024, there was a 20.52% increase in addresses with broadband access across New Mexico. Colorado was second with an increase of 19.13%.
Connect New Mexico said that the speed increases are expected to continue. The reasons, they say, are that fiber and its superior speed and latency characteristics are being prioritized for new developments, and New Mexicans increasingly understand that greater speeds are available.
Additional information about New Mexico broadband, including links to state funding resources, previous awards made, state specific Telecompetitor coverage, BEAD news, and more can be found on the Telecompetitor Broadband Nation webpage for the state.
