Vexus Fiber completes first phase of massive fiber network project in Albuquerque

Vexus Fiber, the internet service company that is investing millions of dollars into building a fiber network in Albuquerque, has completed the first phase of the project — bringing internet to roughly 1,000 households in the city.

The service is available to residents in the area north of Interstate 40 and west of Interstate 25, the city of Albuquerque said in a news release announcing the completion of the first phase of the project. The service became available to those residents on Nov. 30, said Kevin Folk, the regional vice president of operations for Vexus.

“This is just the start of what we’re building in Albuquerque,” Jim Gleason, CEO of Vexus, said in a statement. “We’re well on our way to making the state’s fastest internet, and some of the fastest in the country, available to all of Albuquerque.”

The company is investing roughly $250 million in the fiber network project, which should be finished by 2028.

Folk said the second phase of the project is still in the engineering and planning stage with construction slated to start early next year. Construction on the first phase was supposed to finish last year, though Folk said there were some delays “due to planning with third parties as we worked through design and processes on an infrastructure project of this magnitude.”

If all goes to plan over the next five years, up to 243,000 homes and businesses in the city can connect to Vexus’ services. Folk said around 12,000 should be able to connect in the next year.

“We expect construction moving forward to proceed at the pace we typically operate, which is about three or four months from the time it begins,” he said.

Companies such as Comcast Corp., CenturyLink, ATN International and others offer fixed broadband connections to city residents. And AT&T, Dish Network Corp., T-Mobile USA and Verizon offer mobile broadband to the area.

But Vexus, which operates on a 10-gig network that allows for multi-gigabit internet service and symmetrical speeds, is the city’s first “fiber-to-the-home company that is invested in bringing this future-proof technology to the entire city,” said Catherine Nicolaou, the city’s Broadband Program manager.

That means customers in Vexus’ service area will be able to have multiple connected devices and stream videos in 4K with minimal to no interruption. It is also a massive step forward for the state’s largest city, to match other densely populated areas of the country now with their own fiber networks.

EducationSuperHighway, a national nonprofit focused on closing the digital divide, estimates tens of thousands of Albuquerque homes are not connected. Mayor Tim Keller believes Vexus’ entrance into the city can fix that. The company’s prices start at $39.99 a month.

“Bringing reliable high-speed fiber internet to our city will help bridge the digital divide for Albuquerque families so they have the tools they need to learn and work,” Keller said. “This is also a powerful tool for businesses that will help with ongoing economic development to create new opportunities in our community.”