Resound-FW-Socorro/San Antonio-Carry Forward App BEAD 1
This project will bring future-proof, high-speed broadband to the communities of San Antonio and Socorro in Socorro County, New Mexico, through the deployment of a Priority Broadband Project utilizing XGS-PON Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) technology. Designed to eliminate long-standing digital infrastructure gaps in this rural region, the project will deliver reliable, symmetrical multi-gigabit service to hundreds of unserved and underserved homes and businesses that have historically lacked access to adequate broadband.  Using a fully fiber-based architecture, the network will provide symmetrical speeds up to 10 Gbps, with standard residential plans starting at 1 Gbps symmetrical for $85/month. This rate is well below BEAD’s affordability benchmark and qualifies for maximum points under BEAD’s affordability scoring rubric. Service offerings will include unlimited data, no throttling, and no long-term contract requirements. Business customers will benefit from tailored service plans with higher capacity tiers, dedicated symmetrical bandwidth, static IPs, and priority routing. Although the project area does not include a community anchor institution (CAI), the network will be designed to accommodate future institutional connectivity as needed.  The project will serve 443 broadband serviceable locations (BSLs), consisting of 442 unserved and one underserved location. These include 409 residences and 34 businesses that currently lack access to reliable, high-speed internet. By targeting these unserved and nearly unconnected areas, the project addresses a critical gap in Socorro County’s digital infrastructure and provides residents with the foundation needed for remote education, telehealth, remote work, and digital commerce.  The total project budget is $4,853,984, with $3,624,164 (75%) requested in BEAD grant funding. These funds will cover fiber network construction, trenching, aerial installation, optical network terminals (ONTs), splitters, customer premise equipment (CPE), and labor. The remaining $1,232,322 (25%) will be provided as a private match from the applicant, drawn from internal capital allocated for rural broadband expansion. This contribution will fund project management, permitting, construction labor, and contingency planning—ensuring both financial viability and execution capacity.  The project will be completed within a 36-month deployment timeline. The build will begin with engineering and permitting activities, followed by backbone fiber installation and lateral construction to reach residential and business premises. The project will be executed using a phased rollout strategy, allowing locations to be activated on a rolling basis as segments are completed and verified. This approach accelerates the time-to-service for many customers while maintaining deployment efficiency and quality standards.  XGS-PON is a scalable, standards-based fiber platform capable of delivering up to 10 Gbps symmetrical speeds. It is designed to support current and future bandwidth needs, including 4K/8K streaming, cloud-based business applications, remote healthcare services, and smart home technologies. The network will be built with passive infrastructure between the central office and endpoint, reducing long-term maintenance requirements and improving service reliability.  Network performance will be monitored 24/7 by the applicant’s centralized Network Operations Center (NOC), which provides real-time diagnostics, fault detection, latency and throughput monitoring, and remote configuration capabilities. Fiber distribution hubs and customer premise installations will be equipped with backup power systems and protected by robust design standards to ensure continuous operation during outages or natural disasters. Field operations will be conducted by trained and certified technicians with experience in rural FTTH builds.  From a financial standpoint, the network is designed to be self-sustaining after deployment. Subscriber revenue from residential and commercial users will cover operational costs, maintenance, network upgrades, and customer support. The applicant’s financial modeling—based on historical take-rates in similar rural markets—shows that the project will remain viable without additional public subsidies. The $85/month pricing model ensures broad accessibility while enabling sustainable operations and reinvestment.  This project represents a strategic investment in closing the broadband gap for San Antonio and Socorro. By leveraging fiber infrastructure capable of supporting current and future bandwidth demands, the project will deliver fast, affordable, and reliable internet to communities that have been persistently left behind. It aligns fully with BEAD’s goals of prioritizing unserved locations, ensuring long-term sustainability, and maximizing community impact through smart, scalable infrastructure.  Once complete, this network will serve as a critical digital backbone for the region—enabling economic development, educational opportunity, and digital inclusion for hundreds of New Mexicans. With strong private investment, a clear deployment plan, and technical excellence built into every stage of the design, the Socorro FTTH project is a model for high-impact rural broadband expansion.