New Mexico-based Penasco Valley Telephone Cooperative (PVT) says it’s using a $1 million disaster relief grant from the New Mexico Office Of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE) to construct and expand reliable Internet access in numerous New Mexico communities that have historically been subjected to wildfires and flooding.

According to cooperative leadership, PVT is building an alternate fiber broadband route to establish more resilient and redundant connectivity to inhabitants of areas like the Capitan Mountains Wilderness, where the Seven Cabins Fire recently burned 31,000 acres after the crash of a medical plane last June.

The investments are also intended to shore up redundant communications connectivity in areas like Lincoln County, where the combined South Fork Fire and Salt Fire burned through over 25,000 acres, destroyed 1,400 homes and commercial buildings, and killed two local residents.

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Many fires are compounded by resulting landslides and flooding, which further threaten property and lives in the region.

“After the 2024 wildfires that destroyed broadband infrastructure in Lincoln County, we dedicated funds to help communities struck by such environmental disasters,” OBAE Director Jeff Lopez says of the grant. “New Mexico must prepare for longer drought and more extreme fires, so it is critical that communities and first responders stay connected during these challenging times.”

OBAE’s Connectivity to Declared Disaster Areas Grants program heavily leverages funds made possible by the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

New Mexico’s Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE) has announced the completion of a landmark broadband infrastructure expansion project that delivered affordable next-gen broadband access to dozens of long-neglected homes in a remote subdivision in rural Chaves County.

According to the OBAE announcement, the successful completion of the Chaves County project is OBAE’s first grant project to reach 100 percent completion, and the first Connect New Mexico Pilot Program project funded through the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Capital Projects Fund to reach the final stage.

“This project’s completion delivers on the state’s promise to connect New Mexico families in the most remote areas of the state,” said Andy Exell, OBAE’s ARPA Program Coordinator.

“For these dozens of homeowners to finally get high-speed internet is a life changer.”

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Like so many rural U.S. communities, residents of Chaves County were often deemed unprofitable to serve by entrenched private phone providers.

That changed in  2023 when OBAE awarded Artesia, New Mexico based Penasco Valley Telephone Cooperative Inc. (PVT) an ARPA grant of $487,000. Officials say construction included roughly 11 miles of pole-attached aerial fiber to the rural residences. With matching PVT funds, the broadband project’s total budget was $649,000.

The U.S. Treasury awarded New Mexico $117 million in grants through ARPA to expand and deploy broadband to unserved and underserved neighborhoods. 

The New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE) has awarded $1.4 million in grants to 15 counties, tribal communities, cooperatives, and municipalities for planning, engineering and grant writing to expand broadband access in long-underserved communities.

The funding not only allows these communities to begin analyzing their local connectivity needs in more detail, it potentially opens the door to helping them apply for more than $675 million in BEAD grants the state of New Mexico is poised to receive courtesy of 2021 infrastructure legislation.

The New Mexico Grant Writing, Engineering and Planning Program (GWEP) awards must be used for grant writing, engineering and planning for broadband expansion projects and the development of infrastructure projects. Traditional private ISPs were not eligible.

The first round of awards were announced in June, with a second batch announced in July.

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Round one awardees included $100,000 grants to the Village of Pecos, Valencia County, Pueblo of Isleta, Pueblo of San Ildefonso, Pueblo of Laguna, Pueblo of Jemez, and Otero County, and a $90,000 grant to Luna County.