Vexus Fiber is kicking off a $50 million network buildout in Las Cruces, New Mexico, one of over a dozen markets where it’s building fiber.
The operator in its initial construction areas will connect 400 Las Cruces homes. Over the next three years, Vexus aims to cover 44,000 homes and businesses across the city.
Vexus Fiber CEO Jim Gleason said in a statement the company is “planning an aggressive schedule for construction and installation for several phases over the next few months” and that Las Cruces “will soon have some of the fastest internet service available anywhere.”
Gleason told Fierce in November Vexus will eventually roll out multi-gig service plans, starting with a 2.5-gig tier. In Las Cruces, Vexus said it will offer “various internet service packages” with speeds up to 5 Gbps symmetrical.
Customers in initial construction areas can sign up for these plans right away, with service scheduled to go live by the end of March.
The $50 million build is privately funded and will create 50 to 100 construction jobs as well as 30 to 50 permanent jobs for ongoing service, Vexus said.
The Texas-based operator is undertaking projects in more than a dozen markets across three states; Texas (Wichita Falls, Laredo, Nacogdoches, Rio Grande Valley, San Angelo, Tyler and Huntsville), Louisiana (Lake Charles, Alexandria and Slidell) and New Mexico (Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Santa Fe).
Vexus isn’t the only operator expanding in New Mexico. Gigapower, AT&T and BlackRock’s joint venture, announced last week plans to construct its wholesale open access fiber network in Albuquerque.
New Mexico received a Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) allocation of $675.3 million. However, a state official has said that money may not be enough to connect all unserved and underserved locations.
Ovidiu Viorica, the broadband and technology manager for Connect New Mexico, said last year “a big missing piece is the middle mile on the infrastructure side” and that BEAD funding won’t be enough to finish building that infrastructure.