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

Mon Dec 31 12:37:57 PST 2018

I would second Jeff's suggestion regarding attendance at Mountain Connect.
This conference has been incredibly important to those of us working to
bring broadband to underserved rural communities. While it may be hosted in
Colorado it is equally applicable to New Mexico as well.

Virgil Turner
Director of Innovation and Citizen Engagement
City of Montrose, Colorado
Mobile: 970-596-1093

On Wed, Dec 26, 2018 at 9:55 AM Jeff <jeff at mountainconnect.org> wrote:

> Over the past few years, I have made overtures to the state government and
> larger cities to spark their interest in attending the Mountain Connect
> Conference in Colorado if for no other reason than the ability to connect
> with other State and municipal leaders from both CO and other western
> states.  There has to be synergistic value in networking with those who
> have overcome same/similar obstacles.  I live in Durango so I am fairly
> familiar with the challenges in NM.
>
> Incumbents, as Christopher can attest, don’t participate because the
> Agenda is reflective of those who need the help: Communties and Counties as
> a first priority.  In general, NM, outside of one northern group, has not
> attended nor shows any interest.  I am not suggesting, by the way, that
> attending this conference will solve all problems but a lack of continued
> interest demonstrates little or no desire to implement necessary change or
> at least to further their education.  Change is only possible through
> action.  It continues to be a disappointing endeavor...
>
> Jeffrey Gavlinski
> Mountain Connect
> 970 382-1799
>
> On Dec 25, 2018, at 2:51 PM, Doug Orr <doug.orr at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Fortunately, 5g is going to solve everything.  (Kidding!)
>
> On Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 2:33 PM John Brown <john at citylinkfiber.com> wrote:
>
>> +1 to Christopher's comments.
>>
>> In addition you have local (eg City) and State regulations, or lack of
>> regulation in some cases, that are barriers to entry.
>> Yes sometimes we actually need regulation to create a level playing
>> field, especially when it comes to using community
>> resources like rights of way.
>>
>> For example:  The City of Albuquerque see's no reason to be involved
>> in helping with pole attachment rights.
>> Even when those poles are located within the rights of way of the
>> City.  Rights of way that are "owned by the citizens"
>> of Albuquerque.  City leadership will spew that they want to see more
>> broadband, but when it comes down to actively
>> helping with deployment, they stop short. IMHO, The City should go
>> back to pole owners and inform them that they are
>> required to share the poles with all Broadband providers, or face
>> serious issues with the City.  City has no guts!
>>
>> Look at the millions wasted on the City's ART project.  More than a
>> year later the City still has not provided any access
>> to the dark fiber that was built as part of that project.  The City
>> held out to its citizens that this would be a Open Access / Neutral
>> dark fiber infra-structure along Route 66.  Yet today, providers still
>> can't connect.  Citizens are frustrated.
>>
>> Another example: City of Albuquerque is going to pay hundreds of
>> thousands of dollars, to millions of dollars to Comcast
>> for the continued right to use dark fiber it has already paid for.
>> The City is willing to spend citizen money with Comcast on
>> a CLOSED fiber network instead of an Open Access fiber network project
>> that was proposed several years ago.  A project
>> that would have been completed and paid for by now.
>>
>> At the State level.  Our State is not willing to create a single stop
>> shop for Rights of Way access, nor is our State willing
>> to create a state level / state wide set of Pole Attachment rules.
>> This allows for pole owners like CenturyLink, PNM and others to
>> create high cost barriers to the poles, preventing further fiber or
>> wireless adoption by local companies.
>>
>> Another example:  City of Santa Fe.  City of Santa Fe awarded a RFP to
>> a Santa Fe company to build a fiber network.
>> this fiber network was suppose to be open access.  Yet a google search
>> today for "Santa Fe Fiber" the name of the
>> company didn't turn up any results on how a "qualified provider" could
>> access this "wholesale" only network.
>>
>> Our leaders talk about wanting to get better broadband, but when the
>> tire hits the pavement and they have to do things
>> that go against the desires of the incumbents, they crater and it just
>> becomes talk.
>>
>> I've found its far easier to build internet in other countries than it
>> is here in New Mexico.  New Mexico needs to seriously
>> wake up and be willing to go against the money of the incumbents.
>>
>> Having built a multi-national ISP business, I find it is easier and
>> lower cost to provide service in say London, UK than
>> it is here in Albuquerque, NM!
>>
>> On Tue, Dec 25, 2018 at 12:44 PM Christopher Mitchell
>> <christopher at ilsr.org> wrote:
>> >
>> > The Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce is the one that made the remark about
>> slow adopters. This is a necessary frame for them.
>> >
>> > Chambers of commerce are notoriously beholden to the largest members -
>> which are often firms like Comcast and CenturyLink in the case here. The
>> Chamber has to say something that will not make its members look bad  so he
>> blames poor access in the state on the people of the state rather than the
>> big corporations that put food on this table. No shock there - this is how
>> the game is played.
>> >
>> > Organizations - like chambers of commerce - that are corrupted by
>> Comcast and CenturyLink money are extremely unlikely to support real
>> solutions that reduce the monopoly power of the big chamber members ...
>> even if that monopoly power is harming the vast majority of chamber
>> members. Again... this is just how the game is played.
>> >
>> > Christopher Mitchell
>> > Director, Community Broadband Networks
>> > Institute for Local Self-Reliance
>> >
>> > MuniNetworks.org
>> > @communitynets
>> > 612-545-5185
>> >
>> >
>> > On Tue, Dec 25, 2018 at 1:32 PM Doug Orr <doug.orr at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> 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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-- 
*VIRGIL TURNER*
Innovation & Citizen Engagement
Director of Innovation & Citizen Engagement
970.240.1471 O *|* 970.596.1093 M
<http://www.cityofmontrose.org/>
<http://facebook.com/visitmontrose> <http://twitter.com/visitmontrose>
<http://www.visitmontrose.com/>
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