[1st-mile-nm] Census-NM-Broadband-Report

[Doug Orr]

Slow adopters??? That's not a likely reason why infrastructure improvements
and distribution are lacking.

On Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 10:04 AM Richard Lowenberg <rl at 1st-mile.org> wrote:

> Census: N.M. struggling for a good connection
>
> By Teya Vitu | tvitu at sfnewmexican.com  Dec 24, 2018
>
>
> http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/census-n-m-struggling-for-a-good-connection/article_7ef18278-008e-5396-8250-8c8c52847c4f.html
>
> New U.S. Census Bureau data released earlier this month says New Mexico
> is among the least connected states to broadband in the nation.
>
> New Mexico ranks No. 48, just ahead of Arkansas and Mississippi and one
> notch below West Virginia, with percentage of households with broadband
> Internet subscriptions in 2016.
>
> The Census determined 73.7 percent of New Mexico household had broadband
> connections; the U.S. average was 81.4 percent. Washington state led the
> nation at 87.4 percent.
>
> “Low broadband internet subscription rates were found in many counties
> in the upper Plains, the Southwest and South,” the Census wrote in its
> report.
>
> The highspeedinternet.com website determined 91 percent of New Mexicans
> can get broadband internet. The broadbandnow.com website has 81 percent
> of New Mexico covered by broadband.
>
> The gap between broadband availability and customer subscriptions
> reflects other Census findings that singled out Deming and Gallup among
> the half-dozen or so U.S. micropolitan areas (fewer than 50,000
> residents) with the lowest income and highest poverty, respectively.
>
> New Mexico’s issues with poverty and low income are evident throughout
> the state. Only Los Alamos County has less than 10 percent poverty.
> Otherwise, the state falls alongside Arizona, South Carolina and
> Delaware as the only states with no counties with less than 10 percent
> poverty.
>
> On the broadband front, only Bernalillo, Sandoval, Santa Fe and Eddy
> counties have 75 to 85 percent of households with broadband
> subscriptions. Counties with broadband rates below 55 percent include
> Doña Ana, Socorro, Cibola, McKinley, Rio Arriba, Guadalupe, San Miguel,
> Mora and Harding — most with poverty rates between 26 and 37 percent.
>
> “Generally, we are slow adapters,” said Simon Brackley, CEO of the Santa
> Fe Chamber of Commerce, whose economic development committee focuses on
> broadband connectivity. “It takes us a little longer to catch up. There
> is increased commitment by the state to increase Internet speed. I think
> some people who live in rural areas are not interested in broadband.”
>
> However, the Albuquerque-based child advocacy organization New Mexico
> Voices for Children does not believe low incomes and poverty are the
> reason for New Mexico’s low broadband subscription rate.
>
> “That’s an excuse, not a reason,” said James Jimenez, the group’s
> executive director. “One thing we have seen around the state, even in
> low-income communities, a lot of people still have a phone (despite the
> cost). Companies find a way of providing service people can afford.”
>
> Jimenez said Voices is seeking greater state investment in bringing
> broadband to rural areas, equating broadband as infrastructure that is
> no different from highways — items a community may not be able to do
> alone.
>
> “I would say there is a great opportunity with the state surplus to use
> those resources to invest in broadband infrastructure for rural
> communities,” Jimenez said. “We have a hollowing out of rural
> communities. One of the reasons for that is the lack of economic
> opportunities. One of the things the state can and should do is provide
> basic infrastructure.”
>
> CenturyLink, among the largest Internet providers in New Mexico, did not
> talk specifics in the Census Bureau report but said the company “is on
> track to have enabled more than 15,000 locations in FCC-designated,
> high-cost census blocks in New Mexico by the end of this year,”
> referring to where the cost of service is higher than can be supported a
> user rates alone.
>
> Earlier this month, Gov.-elect Michelle Lujan Grisham, an outgoing
> member of the U.S. House of Representatives, lauded the inclusion in the
> Farm Bill of $500 million for a Community Connects Program, a broadband
> grant program to support construction of broadband infrastructure in
> communities private companies may not deem economically viable.
>
> Lujan Grisham in a statement the program will help rural areas of New
> Mexico.
>
> “Expanding broadband access will grow New Mexico’s economy, create jobs,
> boost wages, improve health outcomes, support small business growth,
> help our students learn, increase crop yields, and so much more,” she
> said.
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> Richard Lowenberg, Executive Director
> 1st-Mile Institute     505-603-5200
> Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504,
> rl at 1st-mile.org     www.1st-mile.org
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
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