Ignored No Longer: State Includes Satellite As Internet Delivery Option For Hard To Reach Areas; Move Could Speed Up Access To High Speed

Get Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos on the phone. New Mexico may finally have some business for their satellite internet companies. 

Previously shunned, satellite delivery has finally made the list of options from state policy makers to bridge the digital divide with rural New Mexico where high speed fiber has been the sole focus to provide universal internet access.

Last week the Office of Broadband Expansion and Access (OBAE) launched the $70 million Connect New Mexico Fund and finally satellite delivery, which this space and others have been pounding the table for, made the list:

. . .The Notice of Funding Opportunity recognizes that various broadband networks (last-mile and middle-mile) and technologies (fiber, fixed wireless, non-terrestrial) are required to connect all New Mexicans. . . 

Alternative technologies meeting the speed and latency thresholds may be considered when fiber is impracticable to deploy due to geography, topography, or excessive cost barriers. . .This State-funded program shall consider various technologies, network strategies, and business models,” noted Sandeep Taxali, Program Advisor to OBAE.

"Non-terrestrial" is satellite delivery and is probably the only way thousands of residents here will ever have a chance at getting internet.  

"Latency" refers to interruptions that can occur with satellite due to weather and other factors. But Musk's Starlink and Bezos Project Kupier continue to place in orbit thousands of satellites to improve service. 

 

(Unfortunately, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has denied Musk's Starlink a $900 million subsidy to provide rural broadband, a decision that Musk argues "makes no sense." The GOP says the decision smacks of politics).

Speeds are already up to 100mbps, far surpassing the 25mbps defined as high-speed internet. Satellite is constantly improving and it's not inconceivable that in the future could rival fiber. 

Laying fiber, currently the fastest and most reliable (and expensive) internet delivery, will remain the state's top priority as it leverages state money with federal funding that will be needed to reach the nearly 130,000 residents and businesses the state says are underserved or with no internet. But satellite is constantly improving and it's not inconceivable that in the future it could rival fiber for delivery. 

The state has secured $675 million in federal funds for broadband expansion. The need is over $2 billion, says the OBAE. The communications giants (Comcast etc.) will still make major dollars as satellite would only be a slice of the pie. 

RELIABILITY AND AFFORDABILITY

Sen. Ortiz y Pino

As recently as October the OBAE took issue with ABQ Dem Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino at a committee hearing where he pressed the office over why satellite was not being considered as an option: 

(He) said he didn't understand the point of investing so much money in broadband for only a fraction of the state’s population who might not be able to afford the better internet anyway. He said it would be cheaper for the state to give families money to hook up to satellite systems. However, Acting OBAE Director Drew Lovelace said fixed wireless or fiber is actually much more affordable in broadband-servable locations than a satellite system. 

 

He also said there are latency issues when too many people connect to satellites. “Right now, you have to buy a $600 satellite system from Starlink, and then you’re paying $120 a month. And that’s going to be beyond most rural folks’ capability, unless you’re a business or a farm,” he said.

As satellite adoption proceeds lawmakers like Ortiz y Pino are expected to propose subsidies to households for purchasing the necessary equipment which Starlink has sold for as low as $400 and could possibly be negotiated lower. 

There is already a a federal program to help low income residents defray their monthly internet bills and the state could provide additional funds.

In an era of unheard state surpluses money to include the satellite option is a nonissue. 

The issue is the education of tens of thousands of our young people in rural areas who are being deprived of life-changing opportunities by not having proper internet. 

Fiber is great but so many residents can't be reached by it for years and years--and some never. Including the satellite delivery option for them is a much needed step forward to improve their quality of life.

And the politics are right. 

Further foot-dragging on a leading technology would sooner or later find its way to the campaign trail where Democrats would struggle to explain what it is about the 21st century that they don't get. 

This is the Home of New Mexico Politics.

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