Doña Ana County, NM – Today, Ethos Broadband—a division of Sacred Wind and Commnet Broadband—along with Doña Ana County and local elected officials announced a $16 million broadband project—the Northern County Broadband Project. The project aims to provide reliable broadband to unserved and underserved areas and will improve public safety connectivity, while accelerating economic development.
The County partnered with SWC TelesolutionsEthos Broadband to build fiber backbone stretching from Radium Springs to Salem. This backbone will enable Ethos to connect more than 1,600 homes, 20 anchor institutions and more than 100 small businesses in Hatch, Rodey, Rincon, Salem, Placitas, Garfield and Radium Springs leveraging USDA Reconnect 4 grant funding.
“We are thankful to the USDA for the award of the Reconnect 4 grant and are excited to be working with Ethos Broadband on this effort,” said District 5 Commissioner Manuel Sanchez. “As Doña Ana County works to improve infrastructure across the county, the expansion of broadband has been an effort we have worked on for several years. The importance of broadband and the lack of availability was on full display during the pandemic. I look forward to what this can bring to some of the most rural areas of the County including in the areas of healthcare, education, and employment.”
“Ethos is honored to work with Doña Ana County and USDA to expand broadband connectivity across Northern Doña Ana County,” said Neo Nicolaou, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Sacred Wind and Commnet Broadband. “Our mission is to connect underserved communities with high-speed broadband to improve public safety, economic development, and quality of life. Broadband is the enabler that levels the playing field for those that live in rural communities across America.”
The backbone broadband infrastructure project will consist of three separate conduits running from Salem to Radium Springs:
- The first conduit will belong to Ethos Broadband for use in delivering broadband Internet services to residents and businesses in communities in Northern Doña Ana County.
- The second conduit will belong to Doña Ana County for use in connecting the new Salem tower, the Radium Springs Community Center, and the Radium Springs Fire station to the County’s private network. This conduit will also be maintained and serviced by Ethos.
- The third conduit will belong to Doña Ana County and will be available for potential use by other entities interested in delivering services in the area.
The project is slated for completion in the Spring of 2026.
