Artesia, New Mexico, May 5, 2020 – Peñasco Valley Telephone Cooperative, Inc. (PVT) was awarded a $4.2 million USDA ReConnect Grant on Tuesday, May 5, 2020, which includes PVT’s 25% capital contribution. The USDA ReConnect Program provides grants to connect broadband service in rural areas of the country. Upon receiving the award, Kurt Garrard, PVT CFO said, “We are honored and thrilled to be a recipient of the ReConnect Program. This Grant of $3.1 million, leveraged with our $1.1 million capital contribution will provide 46 miles of fiber in buried and aerial construction to more than 600 unserved and underserved customers. This program is instrumental in deploying broadband infrastructure to provide high-speed internet to residents, businesses and farmer/ranchers in hard to reach areas.”
PVT pursued this grant to improve rural e-Connectivity to 23 proposed funding service areas in Southeastern New Mexico. This grant will provide broadband speeds of 25 Mbps download speed by 3 Mbps upload speed with a three year projected buildout.
USDA’s ReConnect program is part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act passed by Congress in 2018. The program provides $600 Million for broadband deployment to rural underserved areas, which are those areas that do not have 10/1 Mbps speed available.
Headquartered in Artesia, New Mexico and founded in 1949, PVT presently owns and operates the exchanges of Cottonwood, Hondo, Hope, Lakewood, Loco Hills, and Mayhill in Chaves, Eddy, Lincoln, and Otero counties located in Southeastern New Mexico. PVT serves customers over a 4,929 square mile area.
As a cooperative, PVT’s mission is to improve the quality of life in the communities we serve. PVT will continue to research, develop, and implement broadband technology to keep our communities connected.
