"This is a textbook example of wasteful federal spending,"
"Taxpayer dollars are duplicating service while unserved communities across New Mexico are still waiting for broadband."
NMSurf, based in New Mexico, challenges a BEAD provisional award that funds Sacred Wind Communications to overbuild Santa Fe County areas already served by NMSurf. Sacred Wind received a $29 million BEAD award, including $22 million to reach 1,071 locations at roughly $27,000 per location. NMSurf reports it reaches about three-quarters of those locations with fixed wireless access meeting BEAD minimums of 100 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up, and latency under 100 ms. NMSurf asks NTIA and New Mexico OBAE to use FCC Broadband Data Collection maps to define unserved areas and halt overbuilding, and requests protections for veteran-owned small providers. Sacred Wind did not comment, and OBAE received 42 Benefit of the Bargain applications seeking $675 million and 87 total applications to serve more than 44,000 unserved locations.
Read at Telecompetitor
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