Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and New Mexico U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan announced the agency is spending $40 million to provide high-speed internet access for people in rural areas in New Mexico, including Quay County.
The ENMR Telephone Cooperative will receive a $2.6 million grant to create a fiber-to-premises network to provide high-speed internet to residents of Quay, De Baca, Harding, San Miguel, Guadalupe, Union and Socorro counties.
ENMR also will make high-speed internet affordable by participating in the FCC’s Lifeline and Affordable Connectivity Programs. This project will serve socially vulnerable communities in De Baca, Guadalupe, San Miguel and Socorro counties.
The Western New Mexico Telephone Co. Inc. and Penasco Valley Telephone Cooperative also will receive $23.8 million and $13.9 million to run high-speed internet to homes in Catron, Chaves, Eddy, Otero and Lincoln counties.
The grants come from a fourth funding round of the ReConnect Program. USDA has spent $1.7 billion since early 2021 through the ReConnect Program to bring high-speed internet to rural Americans.
The funding was part of President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which commits $65 billion to expand affordable and high-speed internet to communities across the U.S.
“Through this grant funding, more New Mexico families will be given the resources to get connected. I’m proud to partner with the USDA Rural Development to deliver such critical broadband investments to New Mexico, empowering our local businesses, farms, and education facilities,” Lujan said in a statement.