By Mary Alice Murphy

On Friday, March 31, 2023. Kelly Schlegel, director of the New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE), and Sandeep Taxali traveled to Silver City to announce a substantial award to WNM Communications to expand service to Cliff and Mimbres.

Wayne Baxter of WNM Communications said that Covid pushed broadband to the front, with students going to school online and adults working from home. "We look at our service area as a whole."

The area covers about 15,000 square miles, with more than 750 miles of fiber optic.

Schlegel said she has worked in software engineering, aerospace and technology for 42 years with 30 of those years spent with Boeing.

"I love being a partner with local companies, like WNM Communications," she said. "Congratulations to you and your team members."Schlegel continued: "This project is $5 million including the match. We will get down to the personal level and see what kind of impact it will have. I want to thank the Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments executive director, Priscilla Lucero, who has been working on getting broadband expanded down here for years. I get to pass this money on. This is bipartisan. We are making four awards in very rural communities. Today, we are awarding it to you guys. Next week we will visit three trailer parks. It takes about three years to get this to customers. You do the digging and deployment. I'm happy to partner with your company. These awards are all to New Mexico companies. I like to fund local companies."

"I want to introduce the one I call my subject matter expert, Sandeep Taxali," Schlegel said.

Taxali said the agency created the notice of funding, and then they accepted applications and scored each one. "This application moved to the top. We were looking at the match and the need. Y'all were great. This one was my recommendation to the governor. At $30,000 to a home, you could run away with it. We are a fiber-first state. Fiber is good for 30-40 years and with conduit even longer. And you're doing conduit. This award is almost final, just waiting for the agreement."

Taxali said because it was a multi-million dollar project, it made sense to put a heavy subsidy on it.

On behalf of U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, Melanie Goodman said the senator was happy to see the American Rescue Plan Act helping to fund critical needs that were laid bare during Covid. "Broadband was one. There is a lot of federal funding coming down. The senator talks about not stopping until there is 100 percent connectivity. He chairs the subcommittee for communication media and broadband, so this is a big issue for him. When I visit Gila Hotsprings and Mimbres I will share this news with them."

Schlegel said the congratulations should go to the USDA Reconnect-4 program. "We celebrated in Albuquerque with another $40 million coming to New Mexico for the Reconnect program. The state has received a total of $700 million through different funds on 61 projects."

She asked about the Reconnect-3 program, and Kory Webb of WNM Communications said it had been fully funded, with expansion to several hundred homes in the Pie Town, Quemado and Red Hill area. "There is no overlap in coverage over our 15,000 square miles. We just put 5G LTE in Pie Town. We're applied for a lot of grants. Thanks to the county, Melanie and Priscilla, because the funding is critical for economic development.

Lucero thanked Schlegel and Goodman "for being partners in weekly meetings to gather information to make a difference in our communities. It shows how remote we are. We are still working on water issues, and without broadband, we can't operate the water and wastewater systems. And adults and students need broadband. When the library is closed, people park near it to get broadband access. They feel like they have been left out. We are not just rural; we are remote. If we don't foster the efforts, they can't strive for better. It's everybody's responsibility. We'll continue to work with you (she said to WNM Communication). If things are moving slowly, we are here to help."

Taxali asked if the houses they had already reached were permanent homes or vacation homes.

Webb replied that it involved one business and mostly permanent homes.
"We work with Valley, Plateau and Sacred Wind," he said. "We service the Gila National Forest and part of the Cibola National Forest. We work closely with the Forest Service and will bring consistency to them during fires. We are a member company of LICT [an integrated provider of broadband and voice services]. It is composed of 10 companies like us."

Daniel Meszler, WNM chief executive officer, noted that Baxter's grandfather started Mogollon Telephone Company, which later turned into WNM Communications.

Schlegel said: "We have to make the 5G mobile towers project successful."

Webb noted that wireless access to broadband is a stop gap measure. "It is not ultimately the end game. Fiber is the end game."