Internet service on east side

MEADOW LAKE — Saying this is “just the beginning” Valencia County staff, along with state and private partners, launched a broadband internet project on the far east side of the county aimed at connecting areas long under served.

“This is a stepping stone that will start here and eventually reach the rest of the county,” said Valencia County IT director Tesa Mast last week during an event at the Meadow Lake Community Center.

The broadband project will start in Meadow Lake and El Cerro Mission, areas identified with a high need for broadband internet services but few affordable options.

Thanks to a 2021 $250,000 grant from Meta, the county will be able to offer 150 households free internet service for the next two years. Mast said the county will take applications for those slots and determine who will be eligible for the free service.

In early 2022, the county launched Phase I of its broadband initiative. Meta contracted with Rural Innovation Strategies, Inc. — a social impact nonprofit consulting firm focused on providing capacity building — to support Valencia County’s efforts to deploy broadband with mapping and geospatial studies, feasibility plans, execution and funding strategies.

County staff conducted surveys and resident outreach in local communities that were more deeply affected by a lack of connectivity.

In consultation with RISI and the New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion, Valencia County selected Resound Networks to expand internet services in the eastern part of the county and provide connectivity to two county-run community centers.

Tamara Rosenberg, Resound’s state broadband coordinator, said this project is “a great collaboration. You have the county, state agencies, a major corporation, a nonprofit and mid-sized business. This is everything you want in a public/private partnership. This is how it’s supposed to work.”

Resound’s offerings tend to be “less expensive” than other broadband providers, she said, and the company’s sole focus is on very rural communities like Valencia County.

“We are a 100 percent rural service provider; we have a different mission,” she said. “People living in more densely populated, urban areas can get service easier. It’s usually not a big deal to find $35 high speed service. We are trying to keep prices in line with community standards.”

To provide its fixed wireless services, Resound relies on multiple technologies and detailed engineering to ensure residential speeds up to 400 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload.

For the Valencia County project, Resound has identified a tower adjacent to the coverage area where infrastructure, such as antennas, digital signal processors and network interfaces, is installed, enabling community access to high-speed internet. Resound’s design incorporates network redundancies that will ensure continuity of service in case of individual connection failures.

“Once we install our equipment on the tower, a signal will be sent to a receiver in users’ homes,” Rosenberg said. “There’s no line to run, no trenching.”

Jeremias Silva, the county’s grant manager, said this project will provide affordable, reliable service to communities that don’t have the same opportunities as those with reliable internet service.

“It will eventually be able to reach some of the more remote communities, such as Highland Meadows and Tierra Grande,” Silva said.

Valencia County Manager Danny Monette wrote in a recent press release that during the COVID 19 pandemic, the county “was really able to see the disconnect between our senior, student and lower-income families.

“This opportunity expands high-speed internet access to those who cannot afford it and do not have it at their disposal. Tesa and Jeremias took the initiative before the (New Mexico) Office of Broadband was in place, starting from scratch, and are now seeing it across the finish line.”

Valencia County is working with RISI on future phases to leverage state and federal funding and private partnerships to deploy and increase high-speed internet across the county to benefit its residents and businesses. Misti Willock, Resound’s vice president of strategy partnerships, said the county is pursuing five grants, each just under $6 million, from the New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion for future projects.

Phase II of the Valencia County Broadband Initiative includes free internet for qualified households and expanded internet services at the El Cerro and Meadow Lake community centers.

Residents in the communities of Meadow Lake and El Cerro Mission can sign up for service by visiting resoundnetworks.com, calling 800-806-1719, sending an email to broadband@co.valencia.nm.us or coming to the in-person registration event from 5-6 p.m., Tuesday, May 21, at the Meadow Lake Community Center, 100 Cuerro Lane.