State Share Of Federal Broadband Pie Is $675 Million; High Speed At High Cost; Can Satellite Play A Role? Broadband Office Says No But Readers Differ

New Mexico's share of the immense federal broadband pie comes in at $675 million from that $1 trillion infrastructure law pushed through in 2021. Scranton Joe, prepping for his re-elect, had fun Monday announcing the amount each state would get to expand broadband and MLG reminded the state that in addition to the $675 million she has made available $54 million in grants and $35 million in matching funds for broadband.

Even all that money is not expected to completely get the job done because extending the fiber for broadband to remote locations is hyper-expensive:

Broadband companies such as Verizon, Comcast, Charter Communications and AT&T have been reluctant to provide access to low-population, rural communities because the investments are expensive and the regions do not offer a lot of subscribers. The lack of broadband access drew attention during COVID-19 shutdowns that forced students into online schooling. 

Om the June 20 blog  we urged the state Office of Broadband Access, which has been faulting high speed satellite delivery as not fast enough, to give it a second look, otherwise it will be years before many rural New Mexicans see fiber rolled out to their doors. The Governor's office says 23 percent of New Mexico households do not have access to "reliable internet."

The state says it will submit a plan to the federal government for spending the $675 million by year's end. Meanwhile, we hear from some readers experienced with satellite delivery.

Dan Warren, reading from the Gila in Sierra County, writes: 

The cost to subsidize this service per household seemed outrageous. Now with Starlink it seems crazy to spend this kind of money. I have lived off-the-grid in the Gila Mountains for 12 years. I started out with Wild Blue satellite and then moved to Hughes Satellite when its speeds were a little better. About 5 years ago, I switched to Viasat when it looked like a better deal. (Wild Blue became Viasat.) However, none of these systems worked well enough to operate a smartphone using WiFi calling. 

There is a reason Starlink works and the others don't. Elon Musk's Starlink uses a constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Viasat and Hughes have just a few satellites that are thousands of miles farther from the Earth and the signals take too long to go back and forth. 

When I was using Viasat, I compared costs in various locations. I found that I was paying $127 per month for the bronze plan while someone in a city like El Paso would pay around $90 for the gold plan. Essentially, poor people in rural New Mexico were subsidizing Viasat so they could try to compete with fiber optic systems in the cities. 

In the early days of Wild Blue, the government subsidized dish installations for rural residents and we were promised a plan costing about $40 per month for life. That service eventually failed because the satellites started losing their geosynchronous orbit. Eventually they could not get my modem to work anymore and that is when I switched to Hughes. Starlink works so well that I feel like I am using the Comcast cable I had in Albuquerque years ago. Thank you immensely for all the great work you do!  

WHEREVER THEY GO

Longtime reader John G. sends this pic from a remote location:

Only in New Mexico, Tierra del mañana. Here’s a picture of what internet access looks like @ Canjilon Lakes. If that doesn’t qualify as the middle of nowhere I don’ know what does. The Starlink antenna is at the left end of the camper trailer. They have internet access wherever they go. 

THE BOTTOM LINES 

From the state Senate Republican Caucus:

Former state Senator Carroll Leavell passed away at the age of 86. Senator Leavell served in District 41, representing Eddy and Lea counties, from 1997 to 2018. The Senate Republican Caucus issued the following statement: 

Senator Leavell will be remembered as a statesman and leader of the utmost integrity. As a longtime member of the Senate, he put the needs of his constituents ahead of politics and he was widely respected by members on both sides of the aisle. Senator Leavell will be dearly missed and we send our deepest condolences to his family during this difficult time.

On the Monday blog we said last October's ABQ Journal poll listed "mixed feelings" as one of the responses for voters in a poll of ABQ Mayor Keller's job performance. That option was not listed but 22 percent of the respondents volunteered it as their answer. . . 

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2023