A local telecommunications affiliate is using auction winnings to develop fiber to the home broadband infrastructure on Navajo Lands in Northwest New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Sacred Wind Communications is proud to announce the FCC’s final approval of a fiber to the home project in Yatahey, NM to be built by its affiliate, SW DinehNet. SW DinehNet was the winner of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction. The auction winnings are meant to provide underserved communities with broadband and voice telecommunications services. SW DinehNet’s RDOF project will be the largest fiber to the home system anywhere on Navajo Lands. Sacred Wind was the first, and is still the only, company to install fiber to the home to the Navajo People.
“We’re thrilled to be a part of this investment in the future of our customers right here in McKinley County,” says John Badal, CEO of Sacred Wind Communications. “Prior to our arrival here, very few Navajo homes had access to internet services, and now many will have gigabit speeds over fiber.”
The winning bid granted two million dollars for the expansion of fiber infrastructure for households outside of Sacred Wind’s regulated service territory. This comes after the NM Public Regulation Commission approved SW DinehNet operating in that area.
As part of its RDOF program the FCC is set to spend nearly $20 billion over the next ten years across the USA to provide necessary services to rural parts of the country.
For more information, please visit the Sacred Wind Communications website. Please refer any media inquiries to the Regulatory & Marketing Specialist, Chris Rackley.
About Sacred Wind Communications
Established in 2006, Sacred Wind is the only privately-owned local rural telco created primarily to bridge the digital divide for tribal communities in New Mexico. It broke new ground in 2008 by successfully completing a trial of fixed wireless equipment for USDA loan and grant purposes. Since then, it has implemented innovative methods to bring broadband service to previously unserved homes in other rural areas of New Mexico and was selected by Microsoft Airband as a rural partner in the development of innovative fixed wireless solutions for the State.