The inequities of service and opportunity are graphically illustrated by telecommunications coverage most homes have television sets, far fewer have telephone connections. There are seventeen regional phone companies operating franchises in the state, many of them lacking the basic ability to provide bandwidth and access for simple phone services, let alone access to the Internet, broadband, or other proposed digital services. The biggest player, U.S.West, covers the prime areas of the Rio Grande corridor, but apparently finds no business incentive for extending into most rural areas.
Education is an even better illustration.
And having failed to get one in school, there are alarmingly few opportunities to make up for it afterwards GED is available through public television, but there are said to be only twelve qualified GED testers in the entire state, and no money has been forthcoming to provide more. There are increasing numbers of people in New Mexico who see the use of new technologies as being, if not an alternative to the injection of significant money, then certainly an option that must be pursued. They ask why the state s system of educational telecommunications appears to be uncoordinated and semi-compatible. It is symptomatic that the tools ready to hand like public broadcasting are not being given the encouragement they need or deserve. Public television s reach and coverage should be an enormous bonus for the state s educational system, as it is in virtually every other state of the Union.