As used in the Connect New Mexico Act:

Ask a business law question, get an answer ASAP!
Thousands of highly rated, verified business lawyers.
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

A. “2020 broadband plan” means the State of New Mexico Broadband Strategic Plan and Rural Broadband Assessment published by the department of information technology in June 2020;

B. “broadband infrastructure” means any facilities and equipment used to provide internet service, excluding telecommunications equipment owned, controlled or operated by a public or private end-user;

C. “broadband office” means the office of broadband access and expansion; D. “council” means the connect New Mexico council;

E. “department” means the department of information technology;

F. “digital equity” means information technology needed for civic and cultural participation, employment, education, business and economic development, lifelong learning and access to essential services generally available to residents regardless of their racial grouping, socioeconomic status or cultural identity;

G. “digital inclusion” means access to and the ability to use information technologies;

H. “end-user” means an individual, business, institution or governmental entity that subscribes to an internet service and does not resell that service to other individuals or entities;

I. “federal assistance funding” means federal grant and loan programs that provide full or matching funding for the development or maintenance of broadband infrastructure, training in the use or administration of internet-based services or the purchase of computers or other devices that access the internet;

J. “internet” means a global set of computing and electronic devices interconnected through networking infrastructures to provide data and information sharing and communication facilities;

K. “local government” means the government of a municipality, county or political subdivision of the state or an entity operating pursuant to a joint powers agreement pursuant to the Planning District Act N.M. Stat. Ann. § 4-58-1 to 4-58-6 or the Regional Planning Act N.M. Stat. Ann. § 3-56-1 to 3-56-9;

L. “public educational institution” means a public school that receives state funding for its operations, a school district, a public post-secondary educational institution or a state agency that provides administrative services, funding or technical support to public schools, school districts and public post-secondary educational institutions;

M. “quality of service” means the standards for broadband service established by the broadband office that meet or exceed the baseline standards established by the federal communications commission;

N. “statewide broadband plan” means a plan developed by the broadband office that may be an updated revision of the 2020 broadband plan; provided that, upon Senate Bill 93 of the first session of the fifty-fifth legislature becoming law, “statewide broadband plan” means the statewide broadband plan developed pursuant to that law;

O. “tribal government” means the government of a federally or state-recognized Indian nation, pueblo or tribe;

P. “underserved” means an area or property that does not have access to internet service offering speeds greater than one hundred megabits downstream and twenty megabits upstream; and

Q. “unserved” means an area or property that either does not have access to internet service at all or only has access to internet service offering speeds below twenty-five megabits per second downstream or three megabits per second upstream.