2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 63 - Railroads and Communications › Article 9J - Broadband Access and Expansion › Section 63-9J-2 - Definitions.

As used in the Broadband Access and Expansion Act:
A. "broadband infrastructure" means facilities and equipment used to provide internet service, excluding telecommunications equipment owned, controlled or operated by a public or private end user;
B. "broadband office" means the office of broadband access and expansion;
C. "department", unless otherwise specified, means the department of information technology;
D. "director" means the director of the broadband office;
E. "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;
F. "facilities-based provider" means a provider of internet service to end users in New Mexico using facilities that satisfy any of the following criteria:
(1) physical facilities that the entity owns and that terminate at the end user premises;
(2) facilities that the entity has obtained the right to use from other entities, such as dark fiber or satellite transponder capacity as part of its own network, or has obtained;
(3) unbundled network element loops, special access lines or other leased facilities that the entity uses to complete terminations to the end user premises;
(4) wireless spectrum for which the entity holds a license or that the entity manages or has obtained the right to use via a spectrum leasing arrangement or comparable arrangement pursuant to federal regulations promulgated pursuant to the federal Communications Act of 1934, as amended, or upon subsequent amendment or repeal of that act, by the broadband office by rule; or
(5) unlicensed spectrum;
G. "internet" means a global set of computing and electronic devices interconnected through networking infrastructures to provide data and information sharing and communication facilities;
H. "local government" means the government of a municipality, county or political subdivision of the state;
I. "open access" means equal nondiscriminatory access to the state-owned broadband network by eligible entities on a technologically and competitively neutral basis, regardless of whether the entity is privately or publicly owned;
J. "public educational institution" means a public school, a school district, a public post-secondary educational institution or an agency that provides administrative, funding or technical support to public schools, school districts and public post-secondary educational institutions;
K. "quality of service" means the standards established by the federal communications commission;
L. "state-owned broadband network" means the state-owned broadband infrastructure that is owned, leased or operated by the department;
M. "statewide broadband plan" means a plan, including recommended statutory changes and implementation procedures, for the development and expansion of broadband infrastructure and services throughout the state to meet the needs:
(1) for the delivery of internet-based educational, medical and emergency services;
(2) for local and tribal communities to foster and recruit internet-reliant business and industry and to promote economic development and job creation; and
(3) to support internet-reliant state, local and tribal government functions and facilitate the delivery of governmental services in a manner that is competitive with similar government agencies in neighboring states;
N. "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
O. "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.
History:
Laws 2021, ch. 123, § 2; 2023, ch. 132, § 7.
ANNOTATIONS
The 2023 amendment,
effective July 1, 2023, defined "department," "end user," "facilities-based provider," "internet," "open access," "state-owned broadband network," "underserved" and "unserved" and revised the definitions of "broadband infrastructure"; in Subsection A, deleted "any cable or device used for high capacity transmission of a wide range of frequencies enabling a large number of electronic messages to be transmitted or received simultaneously" and added "facilities and equipment used to provide internet service, excluding telecommunications equipment owned, controlled or operated by a public or private end user"; added new a Subsection C and redesignated former Subsection C as Subsection D; added new Subsections E through G and redesignated former Subsection D as Subsection H; added a new Subsection I and redesignated former Subsections E and F as Subsections J and K, respectively; added a new Subsection L and redesignated former Subsection G as Subsection M; and added Subsections N and O.