High-speed internet expansion comes to Sierra County

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES — Morgan Daniel was elated a year ago when she learned construction workers outside her family compound near Elephant Butte Dam were beginning a fiber cable installation project.

“I almost fell on the floor with excitement,” she recalled Friday.

Slow, unreliable internet had been one of her family’s more difficult adjustments after moving here from San Diego in 2024. It affected her work options, her child’s access to online school and business such as filing taxes online. After life in a major city where high-speed internet was basic infrastructure, Daniel’s family accommodated to a life of intermittent connectivity.

One year after crews broke ground, they are able to participate in professional meetings, carry out medical and financial business and her son can attend classes online and pursue his interest in computer programming.

“Every home should be able to have access and every child should be able to have access,” she said. “When you don’t have that access you’re missing out on everything.”

Close to 3,000 homes, businesses and farms in the Sierra County municipalities of Truth or Consequences and Williamsburg are now connected to high-speed broadband service reaching 8 gigabits per second, following a $14.5 million investment in the region that included an $8.5 million federal grant from the Biden-era American Rescue Plan Act.

On Friday, Albuquerque-based internet provider Ethos Broadband held an open house to sign up customers in downtown TorC. State lawmakers and staff from New Mexico’s Office of Broadband Access and Expansion participated in a ceremonial ribbon cutting and celebrated the latest step in expanding access across the state’s rural communities.

Truth or Consequences Mayor Rolf Hechler said connectivity was as vital for his city as electricity or water. “High-speed internet is the nerve tissue that holds us together,” he said.

OBAE Director Jeff Lopez said that high-speed internet was increasingly essential for meaningful participation in the modern economy, emphasizing the growing reliance on the internet for health consultations, learning, news and services to businesses.

“Delivering broadband in these communities is a generational investment,” Lopez said, “one that will provide them with a successful future in all walks of life.”

Ethos Broadband laid 50 miles in Truth or Consequences, according to the OBAE. The project will bring the option for service to more than 2,700 homes, 137 businesses, three farms and 34 institutions such as hospitals and schools.

State Sen. Michael Padilla, D-Albuquerque, said public support for broadband expansion was a matter of economic development and job creation as well as quality of life. “Three thousand locations in one fell swoop are going to be lit up with high-speed broadband that’s the same as downtown Manhattan,” he said. “How much more competitive is that going to make this community?”

Joining him was state Rep. Gail Armstrong, R-Magdalena, the House minority leader, who highlighted the necessity of telehealth services in communities located far from medical specialists.

“This is a good start to thriving in the state of New Mexico,” she said.

Lopez said the Sierra County project was among $117 million in ARPA-funded broadband projects statewide that would help the state reach its goal of bringing high-speed access to every home and business.

Ethos Broadband is also the recipient of a $2 million grant from the office to establish public WiFi service at Elephant Butte and Caballo Lake state parks. 

Additionally, Lopez said the provider is installing a new fiber line extension 20 miles east from Truth or Consequences to the open area of Sierra County near Spaceport America.

Algernon D’Ammassa is the Journal’s southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.