As used in the Rural Telecommunications Act of New Mexico:

1. A. "affordable rates" means rates for basic service that promote universal service, giving consideration to the economic conditions of households in the service area and costs to provide service in the area in which service is provided;

2. B. "basic service" means service that is provided that is consistent with the federal act:

   1. (1) to a rural end-user customer; or
   2. (2) to a rural or non-rural end-user customer pursuant to the low-income telecommunications assistance program;
3. C. "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;
4. D. "cable service" means the transmission to subscribers of video programming or other programming service and subscriber interaction, if any, that is required for the selection or use of the video programming or other programming service;
5. E. "commission" means the public regulation commission;
6. F. "comparable carrier" means an eligible telecommunications carrier established prior to enactment of the Rural Telecommunications Act of New Mexico that has a similar number of access lines as an eligible telecommunications carrier established after enactment of that act;
7. G. "digital equity" means information technology needed for civic and cultural participation, employment, education, business and economic development, lifelong learning and access to essential services generally available to residents regardless of their racial grouping, socioeconomic status or cultural identity;
8. H. "digital inclusion" means access to and the ability to use information technologies;
9. I. "eligible telecommunications carrier" means an eligible telecommunications carrier as defined in the federal act;
10. J. "federal act" means the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996;
11. K. "fund" means the state rural universal service fund;

12. L. "incumbent local exchange carrier" means a person that:

    1. (1) was designated as an eligible telecommunications carrier by the state corporation commission in Docket #97-93-TC by order dated October 23, 1997, or that provided local exchange service in this state on February 8, 1996; or
    2. (2) became a successor or assignee of an incumbent local exchange carrier;
13. M. "incumbent rural telecommunications carrier" means an incumbent local exchange carrier that serves fewer than fifty thousand access lines within the state and has been designated as an eligible telecommunications carrier by the state corporation commission or the public regulation commission;
14. N. "local exchange area" means a geographic area encompassing one or more local communities, as described in maps, tariffs or rate schedules filed with the commission, where local exchange rates apply;
15. O. "local exchange service" means the transmission of two-way interactive switched voice communications furnished by a telecommunications carrier within a local exchange area;
16. P. "long distance service" means telecommunications service between local exchange areas that originate and terminate within the state;
17. Q. "office" means the office of broadband access and expansion;
18. R. "private telecommunications service" means a system, including its construction, maintenance or operation for the provision of telecommunications service, or any portion of that service, by a person for the sole and exclusive use of that person and not for resale, directly or indirectly. For purposes of this definition, the person that may use the service includes any affiliates of the person if at least eighty percent of the assets or voting stock of the affiliates is owned by the person. If any other person uses the telecommunications service, whether for hire or not, the private telecommunications service is a public telecommunications service;
19. S. "public telecommunications service" means the transmission of signs, signals, writings, images, sounds, messages, data or other information of any nature by wire, radio, lightwaves or other electromagnetic means originating and terminating in this state regardless of actual call routing. "Public telecommunications service" does not include the provision of terminal equipment used to originate or terminate the service; private telecommunications service; broadcast transmissions by radio, television and satellite broadcast stations regulated by the federal communications commission; radio common carrier services, including mobile telephone service and radio paging; or cable service;
20. T. "rural area" means an unincorporated area or a city, a town or an incorporated area with a population of twenty thousand or less as reflected in the most recent federal decennial census or applicable tribal census;
21. U. "statewide broadband plan" means the plan developed by the office pursuant to the Broadband Access and Expansion Act [Chapter 63, Article 9J NMSA 1978];
22. V. "telecommunications carrier" means a person that provides public telecommunications service;
23. W. "underserved" means an area or property that does not have access to fixed and mobile internet service offering speeds greater than one hundred megabits per second downstream and twenty megabits per second upstream; and
24. X. "unserved" means an area or property that either does not have access to fixed and mobile 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 1999, ch. 295, § 3; 2013, ch. 194, § 2; 2021, ch. 118, § 1; 2021, ch. 120, § 8; 2026, ch. 34, § 4.

ANNOTATIONS

Cross references. — For the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, see Titles 15, 18, and 47 of the United States Code.

The 2026 amendment, effective July 1, 2026, defined "office", "rural area", "underserved", and "unserved", and revised the definitions of "affordable rates", "basic service", "broadband infrastructure", and "statewide broadband plan", as used in the Rural Telecommunications Act of New Mexico; in Subsection A, after "promote universal service" deleted "within a local exchange service area", and after "economic conditions", added "of households in the service area"; in Subsection B, in the introductory clause, after "provided" deleted "to a rural end user customer" and added Paragraphs B(1) and B(2); in Subsection C, after "means" deleted "any cable or device used for high capacity transmission over a wide range of frequencies that enables a large number of electronic messages to be transmitted or received simultaneously" and added the remainder of the subsection; added a new Subsection Q and redesignated former Subsections Q and R as Subsections R and S, respectively; added a new Subsection T and redesignated former Subsections S and T as Subsections U and V, respectively; in Subsection U, after "means the" deleted "State of New Mexico Broadband Strategic Plan and Rural Broadband Assessment published by the department of information technology in June 2020; provided that, upon Senate Bill 93 of the first session of the fifty-fifth legislature becoming law, 'statewide broadband plan' means the statewide broadband plan developed pursuant to that law and" and added "plan developed by the office pursuant to the Broadband Access and Expansion Act"; and added new Subsections W and X.

2021 Amendments. — Laws 2021, ch. 118, § 1, effective June 18, 2021, defined "comparable carrier", as used in the Rural Telecommunications Act of New Mexico; and added a new Subsection E (now Subsection F) and redesignated the succeeding subsections accordingly.

Laws 2021, ch. 120, § 8, effective July 1, 2021, defined "broadband infrastructure", "digital equity", "digital inclusion", and "statewide broadband plan", as used in the Rural Telecommunications Act of New Mexico; added a new Subsection C and redesignated former Subsections C and D as Subsections D and E, respectively; added new Subsections F and G and redesignated former Subsections E through N as Subsections H through Q, respectively; and added a new Subsection R and redesignated former Subsection O as Subsection S.

The 2013 amendment, effective June 14, 2013, amended the definition of "incumbent rural telecommunications carrier"; and in Subsection I, after "means", deleted "a" and added "an incumbent" and after "state corporation commission", deleted "on or before November 1, 1997, including any successor in interest thereto" and added "or the public regulations commission".