According to Christy Ann Harvey, southwestern New Mexico is poised to become a hotbed of economic vitality, but it may not reach its full potential without better internet service.
Harvey, who runs a nonprofit working on development projects with Luna County, says the area’s natural beauty and proximity to the state’s only 24-hour border crossing between the U.S. and Mexico are driving those looking for a new home. Can help attract people. But he said high-speed internet has become a “critical infrastructure need” in a place where fewer than 1% of households have access to internet speeds the US government considers sufficient.
“We want to be a destination and improve the lives of our people,” Harvey said. “But to do that we need to have basic needs that help us attract business.”
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday announced a plan to distribute $42.5 billion nationwide to provide reliable and affordable Internet service for every home and business in America by 2030. Achieving that ambitious goal could make a difference in places like Luna County, allowing new businesses and distance learning, telemedicine and other services that require reliable internet service.
“Let’s agree: In the 21st century, in America, high-speed Internet is not a luxury; It’s a necessity,” Harris said.
States and most of their new broadband offices are assessing their needs ahead of the official launch of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. Monday’s announcement has set things in motion.
States will have to complete a multi-step process before the fund can be accessed.
“Just because you were allocated money doesn’t mean you got it,” said Kelly Schlegel, director of New Mexico’s Office of Broadband.
Schlegel and his colleagues at other state broadband offices must submit preliminary proposals before the end of the year.
States must first commit to connecting unserved locations that lack access to internet download speed of at least 25 megabits per second and upload speed of 3 Mbps. According to the map used by the Federal Communications Commission to determine each state’s allocation, more than 7% of the country falls into this category.
States’ initial proposals should identify unserved locations that are not already receiving funding from other broadband programs. They should also suggest other places in need of better services to local nonprofits, Internet service providers, and governments.
States should outline plans for hiring skilled workers, assess the resilience of physical infrastructure in the face of climate threats, and ensure that connections made with BEAD money will be cost-effective.
“Connection alone will provide economic value, not social value, to communities,” said Katherine De Wit, director of the Pew Charitable Trust’s Broadband Access Initiative. “It’s only useful if people can get online and use it, so it’s really important to have that (affordable) requirement as a condition of funding.”
Once the initial proposals are approved, states can use up to 20 per cent of their allocation to start subsidizing telecom companies, power cooperatives and other broadband providers. The remaining 80 percent of the funds will be released after the federal government approves a separate, final proposal, which will outline, among other details, how states will hold internet providers they choose accountable for spending the money properly. are planning to make.
During Monday’s announcement, Vice President Harris described a visit to Sunset, Louisiana, a town of about 3,000 people near Lafayette where about 40% of households lack reliable high-speed internet. He remembered meeting people who can’t apply for remote work and start or grow a small business. She said she met students who had to sit in the parking lot of a local library to submit their homework during the pandemic.
“These stories are not uncommon,” Harris said.
Community participation is critical to improving broadband access in Louisiana, which is set to receive more than $1 billion from the program, said Venneth Iyengar, executive director of the state’s Office of Broadband. Iyengar said he and his colleagues visited 90 cities, towns and villages in Louisiana over the past year and a half to understand where connectivity needs lie.
“We…probably drove over 30,000 miles across the state, meeting various constituents where they are and understanding the use cases of broadband as it affects first responders, farmers, small business owners, economic development People from all over the world, librarians, health care professionals, etc.,” said Iyengar, whose office released the first section of its preliminary proposal in May.
This back-and-forth between the states, the federal government and the public is what differentiates the BEAD program from other federal broadband assistance programs, De Wit said.
“There are many more requirements for states to demonstrate that they have planned for this funding and that they have engaged the public and evaluated options,” de Wit said.
Experts agree that the risk is huge. Blair Levin, former FCC chief of staff who was executive director of the National Broadband Plan under former President Barack Obama, called the program a “one-time deal.”
Levin said, “If the effort is successful, no others will be needed.” “If it doesn’t succeed, people will say, ‘Why would we do this?'”
Communities like Luna County are counting on federal and state broadband programs to close the digital divide once and for all. Harvey said you only have to consider other changes already underway in the community to understand how dramatic the impact could be.
Harvey said construction of a $20 million berm in Luna County to prevent extreme flooding is likely to begin as early as 2024. Work is also set to begin soon on a 160-acre industrial park in Columbus Village. A solar and battery storage project for the county was recently approved by New Mexico’s Public Regulatory Commission.
“Because businesses need to grow, and we’ve got this port of entry that’s growing, we don’t want to be left behind because we don’t have service out there for these people,” Harvey said.
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Harzai, who reports from Los Angeles, is a core member of The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a non-profit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercover issues.
