At the New Mexico Infrastructure Finance Conference last week, the Pueblo of Jemez Tribal community was honored with a Project Excellence Award for its broadband project, building out a fiber network to reach more than 670 unserved or underserved households, Tribal departments, programs, and businesses.
In presenting the award, Jeff Lopez, Director of the New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE), highlighted the transformative work the Tribe has been doing since it received an $8.6 million grant for the $15 million project, courtesy of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in Nov. 2023.
In accepting the award on behalf of the work being done by the tribally-owned and operated Internet service provider known as JNET, Governor George Shendo Jr. of Jemez Pueblo, said in a statement:
“We are honored to be recognized by the Department of Finance and Administration for its inaugural broadband Project Excellence Award. We are excited to fully realize all the opportunities our broadband project will bring to current and future generations in Jemez and the surrounding communities.”
Since January of 2024, JNET has been constructing its fiber-to-the home (FTTH) network, building-out more than 45 miles of fiber to date. More than 40 homes have already been lit up for service with the project expected to be finished in 2026.
“This is a tremendous achievement for Jemez and demonstrates the incredible importance of broadband in building infrastructure in New Mexico. This award exemplifies the huge strides the state has made helping Tribal communities and delivering reliable and sustainable broadband to rural communities,” Jeff Lopez, Director of the New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE), said in announcing the award.
Scott Wright, deputy director of the Infrastructure Planning and Development Division at DFA, added how the work the Jemez Pueblo was doing was “vital to the state’s overall infrastructure.”
In addition to being recognized by New Mexico broadband officials – and as tribal nations across Indian Country are working to close the digital divide in their communities – JNET has stood out as a leader, sharing and learning alongside other Tribal nations in several of the ongoing Tribal Broadband Bootcamps.
Fortunately, for the Jemez Pueblo, the initial grant the Tribe received from the OBAE to get the project started was supported by federal Rescue Plan funds and was not reliant on the NTIA-administered Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP).
As reported by Broadband Breakfast, the TBCP – funded by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – the Trump administration has frozen nearly $1 billion in broadband grants for tribal nations.
In a letter sent last week to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth, Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, noted how $980 million in the second of the TBCP grant program has not been allocated to approved projects, despite applications closing in March 2024.
“The TBCP is the first NTIA program to recognize Tribes’ sovereignty to determine broadband infrastructure needs on their own lands. We are concerned that the agency is applying additional, unnecessary standards and requirements, resulting in uncertainty that threatens the success of existing and planned projects,” the Senators wrote.