Around 300 households and businesses in the Village of Magdalena will receive broadband service with speeds up to one gigabit thanks to money from a New Mexico pilot program.
Socorro Electric Cooperative Inc. will partner to with Grants-based Continental Divide Electric Cooperative to expand its Red Bolt Broadband network into Magdalena. The buildout is part of a pilot program between the two co-ops, according to a news release from Socorro Electric Cooperative.
The New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion issued a $38.6 million grant for four broadband service providers earlier this month through its Connect New Mexico Pilot Program. Socorro Electric Cooperative is one of the four recipients. A formal announcement took place Tuesday at the Magdalena Village Hall.
The state has yet to distribute money from the program to Socorro Electric Cooperative, and the cooperative doesn't know the exact amount it's receiving, said Ellena Tapia, director of communications and public affairs for the co-op. It'll use the money — once it's distributed — to build infrastructure in Magdalena, including new fiber optic cables for broadband access, she said.
Socorro's service area spans around 10,000 square miles throughout seven counties in central and western New Mexico.
Broadband expansion into the Village of Magdalena follows other recent broadband buildout projects.
Continental Divide recently announced that it's expanding broadband to households in the Pueblo of Zuni, N.M., although it didn't receive money from the Connect New Mexico program for the Zuni Pueblo buildout. Ethos Broadband, a division of New Mexico-based Sacred Wind Communications, did get $8.4 million from the state program to bring fiber internet to nearly 3,000 households in Sierra County, N.M. this month.
Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Moriarty-based Central New Mexico Electric Cooperative were the two other grant recipients through the Office of Broadband Access and Expansion Connect New Mexico Pilot Program. The office plans to deliver $120 million total in grant money, and applications for the second round of funding are open now until Dec. 9, according to Renee Narvaiz, public information officer for the state's Department of Information Technology.
