[1st-mile-nm] Qwest: Santa Fe DSL Update

[Richard Lowenberg]

More residents get high-speed Internet access
www.santafenewmexican.com/news/65923.html

By Wendy Brown | The New Mexican
wbrown at sfnewmexican.com
August 2, 2007

More than 500 Santa Fe residents in the areas of Old Pecos Trail and Los
Sueos Trail are among those in the state reaping the benefits of Qwest's
$270 million settlement with the state Public Regulation Commission.

The company extended high-speed Internet access to remote terminals on
those roads in April, May and June, according to a progress report the
company filed this week.

Increasing the number of Qwest customers in New Mexico with high-speed
Internet access is one of the top priorities in the company's 2006
settlement with the commission. And the company outlined other high-speed
Internet plans in this week's report.

Although Qwest officials had given up on providing high-speed Internet
access to Chupadero, a small community north of Tesuque, officials are
reconsidering that decision, the report says.
The company might be able to provide the service to Chupadero with a new
radio technology, the report said.

Since the company began spending the settlement money in February, Qwest's
central offices in Angel Fire, Amber Mesa, La Mesa and Santa Teresa have
received high-speed Internet service, the report says. Central offices
with high-speed service are able to provide customers with that service.

The company expects to deploy high-speed Internet services to the
remaining 18 offices on the company's list in the next 12 months, the
report says.

Eldorado is included on the list of places to receive high-speed Internet
services, but there is no set deployment date. The company will not
release the deployment date until it is just about to happen, said Gary
Younger, a Qwest spokesman.

In all, the company plans to provide high-speed Internet service to 13
remote terminals in Santa Fe with the settlement money. Remote terminals
help the company expand service beyond the company's central offices.

Younger said the company expects to provide high-speed Internet access to
two more Santa Fe remote terminals soon, and that will provide the service
to hundreds of more customers. Younger said he could not provide more
details about where the terminals are located.

The availability rate for broadband should be up to 73 percent for the
state's Qwest customers by the end of 2007, the report says. That is up
from an original rate of 69.7 percent. The final goal is 83 percent.

As for the big picture, the company more than tripled the amount of money
it spent it the first quarter, but is $17.4 million behind on keeping up
with the average the company must spend per month to comply with its $258
million investment requirement by 2010.

Younger, however, said that is to be expected because the company is in
the phase of planning and gathering resources for the settlement's
projects. We're on track, said Younger. We're going to meet all our
targets.

The company spent $3.06 million in the first quarter and more than tripled
that amount to $10.07 million in the second quarter, according to Qwest.

John Arnold, spokesman for the commission, said it is reviewing Qwest's
report and does not have a comment on it yet. The PRC expects to have
Qwest officials present the second quarter numbers at a commission
meeting, but hasn't set a date yet, he said.

When the company released its first-quarter results in May, commissioners
did not express concern about the low investment number, which represented
two month's worth of information.
Brian Harris, a telecommunications lawyer with the state Attorney
General's Office, said the office is keeping an eye on the numbers as they
come in, but he does not think there is cause for concern over Qwest's
progress so far.

The company has three years to spend the money, Harris said, and it takes
time to plan telecommunications projects.

The commission approved the settlement agreement in December, ending
ongoing litigation over a 2005 promise the company made to invest $788
million in New Mexico's telecommunications system.

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Qwest spending in New Mexico since Feb. 1
Five investment categories were listed in a settlement with state
regulators:

o High-speed Internet deployment: $6.93 million
o Diverse telecommunications routes: $140,174
o Cable improvements: $709,237
o Advanced telecommunications technology projects: $3.71 million
o Network improvement: $1.63 million

o Total: $13.1 million
o Spending required by July 31, 2010: $258 million

Source: Qwest


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Richard Lowenberg
P.O.Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
505-989-9110,  505-603-5200 cell

New Mexico Broadband Initiative
www.1st-mile.com/newmexico
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