Vexus Fiber recently started building out a high-speed fiber-to-the-home internet network throughout Albuquerque. Once completed, the network will "cover every nook and cranny of the city."
That's according to Kevin Folk, the regional vice president of operations in New Mexico whom the Lubbock, Texas-based utility hired this summer to lead its expansion efforts in the Land of Enchantment.
Vexus leased a 32,000-square-foot warehouse off of Zuni Road to facilitate building out the fiber network in Albuquerque. The warehouse was operational as of October and received the materials needed for construction, Folk said in Dec. 20 email to Business First.
The company plans to invest $250 million to build out its fiber network in Albuquerque. The effort will create about 200 construction jobs and 150 permanent jobs in the city, according to an announcement from the company last October.
Construction jobs will come from local subcontractors with experience in utility construction, Folk said. Once the fiber network is up and running in the first area of the city Vexus will hire for more positions, including field technicians and locators, he said.
Vexus is currently looking for a director of construction and engineering and a field engineer to handle the initial buildout, Folk said. It typically takes 60 to 90 days to build out the fiber network in one section of a city, and hiring will scale with that buildout progress, he added.
Folk said that Vexus wants to partner with New Mexico community colleges to train students and offer certifications. Vexus also plans to hire people on the commercial and sales side of the business to help scale the fiber network to homes and businesses throughout Albuquerque.
Although he couldn't provide exact numbers, Folk said entry-level positions would pay around $18 to $20 per hour. Other positions will have "highly competitive" wages with full benefits, he added.
Albuquerque Business First caught up with Folk over email to learn more about Vexus' plans in New Mexico and why the company chose the Land of Enchantment as its next expansion location.
The interview was edited for brevity and clarity.
Albuquerque Business First: Is there a timeframe for when Vexus' buildout in Albuquerque will be complete?
Kevin Folk: Realistically, the building out for the entire city of Albuquerque will be about four years to cover every nook and cranny of the city. We will pass every home and business with our fiber.
Why has Vexus chosen Albuquerque, and why is the company starting the buildout now? We like the prospects for Albuquerque. The city is poised for tremendous growth and we feel there is a tremendous opportunity here. We want to be a part of that economic growth and help the city to provide much-needed fiber infrastructure here. Albuquerque is in the right place for us as we provide fiber broadband in Texas and Louisiana. New Mexico fits our model as we specialize in medium-sized cities in the Southwest.
Are there plans for more expansion in New Mexico besides Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Las Cruces? Yes, we have plans to expand further from the major cities into surrounding communities.
How will faster internet speeds provided by Vexus benefit Albuquerque residents? We are building a network that can keep up with the explosion in bandwidth demands. The pandemic made visible the importance of a fiber-fast network that can immediately handle the increased demands that remote work, remote education, telemedicine, streaming video, security and gaming requires. What our network will provide is symmetrical speeds. All the demands consumers require are gained in our matching download and upload speeds. You have one-gigabit download speeds, you get one-gigabit upload speeds as well.
