Comcast- Fiber-Albuquerque PAU8 Albuquerque 02, PAU9 Albuquerque 03, PAU10 Albuquerque 04, PAU11 Albuquerque 05, PAU12 Albuquerque 06, PAU150 Moriarty 02, PAU153 Moriarty 05
Cable Communications Management, LLC (“Comcast”*) appreciates the opportunity to respond to the State of New Mexico (“State”) Office of Broadband Access & Expansion (“OBAE”) BEAD program, with respect to deploying broadband infrastructure to eligible locations in the following Project Area Units (“PAUs”): Albuquerque 02, Albuquerque 03, Albuquerque 04, Albuquerque 05, Albuquerque 06, Moriarty 02, and Moriarty 05 (collectively, the “Project Area”). As detailed further below, Comcast proposes to deploy qualifying broadband service to 2,763 Project Area locations (the “Project”). Comcast identified 22 non-serviceable locations within the Project Area that it has reported to the FCC.  Comcast is committed to completing this Project within 36 months.  Comcast’s Project includes construction and deployment of an all-fiber network capable of symmetrical service of 1 gigabit or higher speeds (the “Network”). This Network will be highly reliable and scalable, permitting bandwidth and low latency potential well beyond foreseeable needs. Comcast will offer customers multiple choices of residential and commercial broadband services, depending on the customers’ specific needs. Project Area locations will also have access to Comcast’s full suite of products and services, including voice, video, home security services as well as Xfinity Mobile. Additional pricing tiers can be found in Section 9.   Comcast selected these communities and PAUs because of existing infrastructure within 1 mile of each PAU. Comcast has served this area for over 50 years, has passed over 300,000 locations in the Albuquerque area, and has contributed $13.6M to more than 69 nonprofits in the community through grants and financial donations over the last three years.   Comcast seeks $40,841,612, with a Comcast cash match of $25,115,331; details on the source of the match can be found in response to Sections 13.A and 13.E below. Grant funds are needed to implement this Project because if undertaken alone, the extension of Comcast’s plant would not meet the criteria of Comcast’s standard investment model. Specifically, Comcast combined the Project Area’s 7 PAUs due to the variance in Cost Per Passing across each PAU, allowing Comcast to keep the cost per passing (“CPP”) for the 2,763 locations around $14,700 where the CPP in individual PAUs was as high as $60,000. By combining a PAU with 100% BSL coverage and 6 PAUs with alternative BSL coverage, Comcast determined costs were more reasonable, and PAU with costly locations could be served with reasonable costs despite unsound business models as individual PAUs. Additional details on this decision can be found in response to Section 3.A below.   Comcast has the necessary financial stability to ensure long-term Project operation, which represents less than one percent (1%) of Comcast’s network investments using its own funds over the last three (3) years. And, understanding networks require constant investment and innovation to remain resilient, secure, and future-ready, Comcast has invested $20 billion in private, at-risk capital in the past 5 years alone on network infrastructure and technology, including nearly $257 million in New Mexico in the last three years to build, maintain, and operate one of the most extensive fiber-based networks in the country.  *Comcast Cable Communications Management, LLC is a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, a publicly traded company that, through its cable division subsidiaries, provides cable television, voice, and Internet services. For purposes of this response, the term “Comcast” throughout may refer to Comcast Corporation; Comcast Cable Communications Management, LLC; or the Comcast Corporation cable division operating subsidiaries or affiliates holding cable television franchises in the relevant jurisdictions. In the event of a grant award, for the avoidance of any doubt, the contracting entity for Comcast will be Comcast Cable Communications Management, LLC and all grant obligations binding upon Comcast Cable Communications Management, LLC must be agreed to in a mutually acceptable separate writing between the parties.