New Mexico

New Mexico

Sustainable Adoption
$14,988,657

Broadband’s ability to expand educational and employment opportunities is especially meaningful for Americans who are deaf or hard of hearing, a community that faces unique challenges in education and that suffers from a rate of unemployment much higher than the national average. Communication Service for the Deaf, Inc. (CSD) intends to expand broadband adoption among people who are deaf and hard of hearing and provide them with online tools to more fully participate in the digital economy. The project proposes to employ a combination of discounted broadband service and specialized computers, technology training from an online state-of-the art support center customized to the community’s needs, public access to videophones at anchor institutions from coast to coast, and a nationwide outreach initiative. Thousands will gain online access to all the Internet has to offer, including sign language interpreters, captioned video services, and other content and functionalities designed especially to advance their educational, employment, and healthcare interests.

Infrastructure
$16,460,815
Project serves: New Mexico, Texas

To provide much-needed broadband capacity to critical community facilities in underserved west Texas and eastern New Mexico communities, ENMR-Plateau plans to construct 189 miles of new fiber and utilize 418 miles of additional existing fiber to create a middle mile broadband network spanning central and eastern New Mexico and parts of western Texas.

Expanding its $11.2M BTOP Round One infrastructure award, ENMR plans to deploy its network into additional underserved areas with 1 Gbps middle-mile speeds. The project proposes to facilitate distance learning and education for tens of thousands of residents by significantly improving broadband connections at schools and higher education institutions. ENMR-Plateau plans to partner with both New Mexico and Texas colleges and universities, regional utility companies, and other service providers as needed to further maximize use of fiber and broadband capacity.

Infrastructure
$11,252,066
Project serves: New Mexico, Texas

The ENMR-Plateau Middle Mile project intends to enhance broadband capabilities for critical community anchor institutions in eastern New Mexico and west Texas by lighting a more than 1,600-mile ring of fiber and constructing 74 miles of new fiber in five communities. The project plans to connect more than 200 anchor institutions – including educational institutions, public safety organizations, healthcare facilities, and government agencies – at speeds of up to 1 Gbps. In addition, the network intends to offer wholesale services and facilitate broadband expansion to an estimated 20 communities and an area with nearly 700,000 homes, over 36,000 businesses, and 263 anchor institutions.

Public Computer Centers
$3,724,128

The Mission Economic Development Agency, in collaboration with the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders and a national network of Latino-serving economic development organizations, plans to create 12 new public computer centers and expand five existing ones in 13 communities throughout the United States. Each center expects to operate on the project’s centrally managed network and provide computer training and adult education to a low broadband adoption, high unemployment target population through a standardized English-Spanish training curriculum. The project expects to add a total of 263 new workstations and replace 37 existing workstations, enabling the centers to serve an additional 2,500 users per week and train an estimated 3,000 users per year. Broadband capabilities at each center will be increased to speeds of 1.5 Mbps. Public computer centers funded through this grant will be located in Phoenix, AZ; Canoga Park, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, CA; Del Norte, CO; Blackfoot, ID; Wheaton, MD; Minneapolis, MN; Kansas City, MO; Anthony, NM; Philadelphia, PA; and San Antonio and Laredo, TX.

Infrastructure
$32,190,067
Project serves: Arizona, New Mexico, Utah

Navajo National Middle Mile/Last Mile Project proposes to bring high-speed affordable broadband services to the Navajo Nation by deploying 550 miles of new aerial fiber-optic cable and 59 new or modified microwave towers covering 15,000 square miles in Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico. The proposed service area has rugged terrain, significant poverty, and more than 60 percent of residents lack basic telephone service. The project expects to directly connect 49 Chapter Houses, which serve as community centers for the Navajo population, at speeds from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps. Last mile wireless services will be offered at speeds between 1 and 3 Mbps through the project’s wireless partner, Commnet Wireless.

Infrastructure
$38,699,997
Project serves: New Mexico

To enhance broadband access to community anchor institutions while upgrading the state’s public safety communications capabilities, New Mexico’s Department of Information Technology proposes a two-tiered project that addresses both objectives via a single network infrastructure First, the project will complete the tenyear analog-to-digital upgrade of the state’s microwave network by replacing 19 of the network’s towers that,
along with the existing infrastructure, connect to a 100 Gbps backbone network at several key points statewide. Second, SIRCITS proposes to utilize the microwave network’s towers to deploy a new interoperable 700 MHz public safety wireless broadband network in the Albuquerque and Santa Fe metro areas that would cover 220 square miles, 14 site locations, provide 1,500 first responder end users with speeds of up to 7.5 Mbps, and benefit a population of about 600,000 residents. Some goals of the new public safety network include streaming critical patient data from paramedics to hospital personnel; field access to records management systems for criminal, fingerprint, and mug shot information; building blueprints and infrastructure diagrams on the go to enable access for firemen; and video applications to improve situational awareness at incident command posts.

Broadband Data & Development
$4,762,287
Project serves: New Mexico

Project Components

State Broadband Capacity Building:

With this project, the New Mexico Department of Information Technology (NMDOIT) will build on the framework created by the New Mexico Integrated Strategic Broadband Initiative in 2008. The funding will support reorganization and expansion of statewide broadband capacity building by developing subcommittees for the following areas: infrastructure, technical planning, applications, legislation, education, governance, tribal issues, and broadband providers. In addition, NMDOIT will hold public forums and an annual conference.

Technical Assistance:

With this funding, NMDOIT plans to catalogue all broadband and technology training programs located within the state and then identify areas that lack training resources in order to improve planning. NMDOIT will also provide direct technical assistance to tribes to facilitate their participation in the broadband mapping project and to improve their internal geographic information system capacity.

Data Collection, Integration, and Validation:

This project was originally funded for broadband planning activities and two years of data collection. In September of 2010, this project was amended to extend data collection activities for an additional three years and to identify and implement best practices.

Sustainable Adoption
$1,457,488
Project serves: New Mexico

The New Mexico State Library has partnered with the University of New Mexico, Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship, and 1st-Mile Institute to propose Fast-Forward New Mexico, an initiative to increase statewide broadband adoption and promote computer literacy and Internet use. The project intends to reach vulnerable populations, Hispanic and Native American users, small businesses, and entrepreneurs through small group trainings at public and Tribal libraries in 15 communities across the state. The partners estimate the project will result in 3,000 new household broadband subscribers, 1,000 new business and institutional broadband subscribers, and 3,200 new users at public computer centers. They intend to develop programs for first-time computer users that will address computer literacy and Internet usage. The New Mexico State Library also plans to provide training in computer and Internet use for small organizations and business owners. The Fast-Forward New Mexico project intends to improve New Mexico’s ranking of 46th nationally in percentage of Internet users, 49th in e-government, and 36th in broadband telecommunications when compared to other states, according to a report by the Kauffman Foundation and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. This proposal is part of Governor Bill Richardson’s five-year plan to phase in “broadband for all.”

Infrastructure
$10,565,792
Project serves: New Mexico

Areas of rural north central New Mexico rely significantly on dial-up service, and much of the region lacks affordable, high-bandwidth network services for community anchor institutions and small businesses. The North Central New Mexico Economic Development District’s REDI Net project plans to deploy a middle-mile fiber optic broadband network across the counties of Rio Arriba, Los Alamos, and northern Santa Fe, and to five Native American tribal communities. The project proposes to enable distance learning and advanced technology applications at schools and community colleges, and promote energy efficiency by enabling “smart grid” applications for regional rural electric cooperatives. REDI Net plans to utilize the network to provide support for locally based businesses, especially in the technology, media, and renewable energy industries. The project also intends to offer higher levels of security and reliability for public safety and telemedicine in the region.

Sustainable Adoption
$28,519,482

The 21st Century Information and Support Ecosystem project proposes to implement a comprehensive program of computer training, wireless Internet access, broadband awareness marketing, and online content and applications to residents of 159 affordable and public housing developments and low-income communities in 50 cities and towns across 31 states and the District of Columbia. The project plans to implement four principal programs: training 2,500 youth to become “Digital Connectors” who will then provide digital literacy training to others in their communities; deploying localized broadband networks in public housing developments; developing online content and applications aimed at low-income, low-literacy audiences.

Public Computer Centers
$176,400
Project serves: New Mexico

The Santa Fe Civic Housing Authority’s Public Computer Labs project plans to expand the capacity of one public computer center and create an additional public computer center at two public housing sites, offering broadband access and computer training to low-income families, minorities, disadvantaged youth as well as disabled and elderly Santa Fe residents. The project expects to add 13 new broadband workstations and replace 7 others, enabling the centers to increase the number of users served per week from 27 to 135. Broadband capabilities and training offered at each center will promote job creation, education, healthcare, and improve the quality of life for some of the neediest Santa Fe residents.

Infrastructure
$62,540,162

As part of a longstanding project to connect essential community anchor institutions across the country, and facilitate closer collaboration and long-term benefits for education, research, healthcare, public safety, and government services, the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID) proposes a comprehensive 50-state network benefitting approximately 121,000 community anchors. The project proposes a large-scale, public-private partnership to interconnect more than 30 existing research and education networks, creating a dedicated 100-200 Gbps nationwide fiber backbone with 3.2 terabits per second (TBps) total capacity that would enable advanced networking features such as IPv6 and video multicasting. The project plans to connect community anchors across all disciplines into virtual communities with shared goals and objectives, including colleges, universities, libraries, major veterans and other health care facilities, and public safety entities, with additional benefits to tribes, vulnerable populations, and government entities.

Sustainable Adoption
$1,384,242

ZeroDivide’s Generation ZD Digital Literacy Program proposes a major regional training and broadband access program for low-income youth in communities across several Western states that will encourage the development of a new generation of broadband users. The project plans to enhance broadband services and outreach in Humboldt and San Benito counties and San Juan Bautista, California; Salt Lake City, Utah; Maui County, Hawaii; King, Snohomish, Skagit Island and Pierce counties, Washington; Multnomah and Washington counties and Portland, Oregon; and Santa Fe, New Mexico. It will also provide sustainable skills training, skill-sharing, and workforce development programs for the North Coast region of California, including for youth from the Native American Table Bluff Wiyot Tribe, Karuk Tribe, and Hoopa Valley Tribe.