February 2025

The New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion (OBAE) has released program details for the fourth wave of the Connect New Mexico Pilot Program. The award, which is for $1.251 million, focuses on connectivity to geographic areas that had been declared disaster areas between 2022 and last year and eligible underserved broadband serviceable locations (BSL) in those areas. These New Mexico broadband awards were authorized under NM House Bill 2. The key dates for these New Mexico broadband grants:

This episode of The Divide features a conversation with Danielle Perry, chief compliance officer at TruConnect, and a board member at the National Lifeline Association (NaLA), where she also chairs NaLA's regulatory and government affairs committee.

On January 16, 2025, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) closed out Jessica Rosenworcel’s term as Chairwoman by releasing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) seeking to expand the use of the 896-901/935-940 MHz band for broadband use. The NPRM builds on the FCC's 2019 rulemaking, which created a 3/3 MHz broadband allocation at 897.5-900.5/936.5-939.5 MHz and established a process for clearing narrowband incumbents from the band. Of note, the FCC asks whether to lift or modify the ongoing narrowband licensing freeze for the 900 MHz band.