Connect New Mexico

Tribal land in southwestern New Mexico could soon get its first broadband connections. The Fort Sill Chiricahua-Warm Springs-Apache Tribe near Akela in Luna County is in line for fiber broadband infrastructure following two $100,000 state broadband planning grants awarded by the state’s broadband office through its Grant Writing, Engineering, and Planning Program. Fort Sill, headquartered in Apache, Oklahoma, currently operates a convenience store and owns about 1,910 acres of an expanded area in Luna County.

Two Tribal communities in New Mexico will receive state grants totaling $200,000 for broadband planning, engineering, and grant writing. Santa Clara Pueblo in Rio Arriba County and the Fort Sill Chiricahua Warm Springs Apache Tribe in Luna County each received a maximum $100,000 planning grant through the state’s Grant Writing, Engineering and Planning Program. The New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion administers the program, which has allocated $5 million to the program to help Tribes, local governments, and cooperatives obtain grants to provide broadband to unserved areas.