New Mexico Office of Broadband Access & Expansion

More than four million annual visitors, students and residents in New Mexico will soon have public Wi-Fi access at city parks, state parks, public housing, civic spaces, community centers and senior centers after the state’s broadband office awarded nearly $6 million in grants. The Office of Broadband Access and Expansion has approved nine Wi-Fi grants through its American Rescue Plan Act Community Wi-Fi Project, a newly launched program designed to help municipal, county, and regional governments and state agencies expand Wi-Fi service.

More than 32,000 students, teachers and staff in two southern New Mexico school districts and one charter school are now connected to the state’s broadband education network, a system that offers schools faster and more secure high-speed internet.

More local governments and state agencies in New Mexico will soon be able to provide public Wi-Fi access because of $6 million in U.S. Treasury Department funding for a new community broadband program. The Office of Broadband Access and Expansion launched the New Mexico Community Wi-Fi Digital Connectivity Technology Project, a new program designed to expand and deploy public Wi-Fi in local communities.

Three rural and Tribal New Mexico communities are one step closer to high-speed internet access after the state awarded $300,000 in broadband planning grants to Jemez Springs, Doña Ana County, and Santo Domingo Pueblo. The grants were awarded through the New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion’s Grant Writing, Engineering, and Planning Program. The grants are specifically used for broadband deployment planning.

Nearly 400 rural students in the Lordsburg (NM) Municipal Schools now have access to high-speed internet after a state-funded broadband project completed construction in one of New Mexico’s rural communities.

Nearly 3,000 locations, including homes, businesses, and farms in Truth or Consequences and Williamsburg (NM), now have access to high-speed fiber internet following the completion of a broadband infrastructure project funded by New Mexico's Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE). OBAE awarded Ethos Broadband an $8.5 million grant through the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Capital Projects Fund to build nearly 50 miles of fiber in Truth or Consequences. The project will connect 2,932 unserved and underserved locations.

The New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion is calling on the federal government to release $293 million in remaining funds from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program to support broadband connectivity across the state. The federal government had allocated $675 million in BEAD funding for New Mexico in 2023. After the National Telecommunications and Information Administration approved New Mexico's $382 million broadband infrastructure BEAD proposal—which will connect more than 42,500 unserved and underserved locations in 32 of 33 counties—$293 million remained.

A broadband affordability bill designed to help as many as 27,000 low-income New Mexicans receive high-speed internet is now on its way to the governor’s desk. The New Mexico House passed Senate Bill 152, which would establish the Low-Income Telecommunications Assistance Program. The House vote was 48-14. SB 152 authorizes $10 million in broadband funding to help low-income families afford broadband service.

A total of 484 student households in Grant County (NM) are receiving high-speed internet, thanks to a New Mexico Student Connect grant program designed to provide broadband access to rural students across New Mexico. The Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE) joined TWN Communications, state leaders, and local officials at Silver High School to celebrate the launch of a $1.5 million Student Connect grant project connecting rural students and school staff in Silver City.

The New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE) has released a comprehensive and detailed Three-Year Statewide Broadband Plan that unveils the agency’s ambitious goals, strategic priorities and initiatives planned for 2026-2028.