New Mexico Unveils Plan to Expand Affordable Broadband

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7, 2025 – New Mexico is taking major steps to make broadband more affordable for its residents.

The state has proposed a telecommunications affordability program to replace the expired federal Affordable Connectivity Program. The program would provide a monthly subsidy to eligible households to help cover the cost of broadband service.

The proposal is part of a three-year statewide broadband plan unveiled by New Mexico’s Office of Broadband Access and Expansion, which set the goal of achieving universal access by 2029. 

Key performance targets within the state’s plan for 2026 include: completing all projects funded by the state’s Connect NM fund and the federal Capitol Projects Fund; finalizing all awards under the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program; and deploying a statewide broadband permit finder tool. 

The launch of the broadband affordability fund would occur in 2027, the same year the state hopes to launch a grant program for community anchor institutions and multi-dwelling units, and a digital opportunity and inclusion program.

“All New Mexico residents should be offered the support to overcome adoption challenges, including programs to enable affordability, obtain devices, or receive digital literacy training,” the plan states.

The plan celebrates strides the state made in expanding broadband access in 2025. 

The state office submitted its $675 million BEAD final proposal to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, launched the Community Connect grant program to expand public Wi-Fi, and completed the first round of Connect NM pilot program projects, as well as Connect NM Fund projects, awarded in 2022 and 2023.

The state increased enrollment in the federal Lifeline Program, while OBAE provided over 4,000 student households with affordable broadband for a minimum of three years through the Student Connect Program.

The state managed 21 projects funded by the CPF and the American Rescue Plan Act in 2025, totaling $117 million, with symmetrical speed requirements of 100 Megabits per second. 

The office also committed $58 million for 22 projects under the Connect NM fund, adopting CPF service standards for each project.

The plan outlines a vision for “a fully connected New Mexico” in which “every community has universal access to affordable, high-quality, and future-ready broadband.”

The state office published its first three-year statewide plan in 2023, just after the Governor stood-up the office and appointed OBAE’s first director.