D.C. Memo: New Mexico Plans to Close Digital Divide Not Once but Twice, With Tax Dollars
◾Vermont Official Fears "Massive Changes' to BEAD ◾Spiwak: FCC Can't Tweak Sec. 230 ◾Starlink Serves 20,000 Vessels ◾Carr: FCC Unlikely to Revisit Starlink RDOF Denial ◾Pai: Congress Needs to Fund USF
New Mexico: Here's what it boils down to: New Mexico has a plan to close the digital divide not once but twice using taxpayer money. Under the two-step plan, New Mexico would use state money to give a Starlink dish to the vast majority of the unserved and then use federal BEAD dollars to overbuild those same locations with fiber or another terrestrial technology. "It kind of pairs nicely, making sure New Mexicans do not get left behind the digital divide today while still building ... for the future," said Drew Lovelace, New Mexico's Acting Director of the Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE), in testimony before a state legislative committee Tuesday. Lovelace is requesting $70 million in state funds to provide a free Starlink dish to 95,000 unserved or underserved locations. "Starlink is the only one in the market right now. Amazon Kuiper is one that's getting close to deployment,” Lovelace testified. Doing the math yields some challenging questions. For example, NTIA says New Mexico has 114,997 unserved locations and will receive $675.4 million in BEAD money. But New Mexico's Starlink program would clear out 83% of its unserved backlog over the next two years. If Mexico's Starlink program is a success, that would mean the state would have all that BEAD money for just 19,997 locations at a per-location cost of $33,733. But that's not Lovelace’s plan. His plan is to use BEAD money to overbuild the Starlink-served locations. "As we move into the BEAD program, we got $652 million (sic). It is not enough to get through the four priorities," Lovelace said, referring to unserved, underserved, anchor institutions, and low-income MDUs. Lovelace said that after BEAD spending and Starlink spending in his Accelerate Connect NM plan, the state would still have a $2 billion "shortfall." Lovelace said the Starlink program would include a $30 discount on the bills of low-income households. New Mexico's approach is not unprecedented. Maine is offering free Starlink terminals to 9,000 locations and is not taking those locations off the map as served, meaning they are still eligible for government-funded fiber projects.
