State broadband project connects 395 rural Lordsburg student homes

Nearly 400 students and staff in the Lordsburg Municipal Schools district now have a new route to homework, attendance portals and college applications: a state-funded broadband build that reached 395 rural homes across Hidalgo County.

The project finished after the Office of Broadband Access and Expansion awarded Transworld Network LLC a $1.5 million Student Connect grant in November 2025. Using that money, the company built fixed wireless infrastructure, including wireless towers and receivers, to extend service into the hard-to-reach parts of the district where reliable home internet has been limited or costly.

For families in the Lordsburg area, the change is practical and immediate. OBAE says students and school staff in Student Connect projects receive three years of free internet, removing a monthly bill during the first years of the service. That matters in a district serving 425 students across four schools in the 2024-2025 school year, where a single connection gap can affect classwork after the final bell, online learning resources, telehealth appointments and job applications.

OBAE director Jeff Lopez said rural communities are often left behind when it comes to affordable, high-speed internet and said the Lordsburg project would change student lives. Lordsburg superintendent Dr. Steve Lucas said the completed network ensures every student in the district has access to fast, reliable home internet, and he thanked the state and TWN Communications for their commitment to the community. Justin Donaldson, chief operating officer at TWN Communications, said the effort reflects a broader commitment to Lordsburg families and to local businesses that depend on stronger connectivity.

The Lordsburg build is the company’s second Student Connect grant. OBAE’s July 2025 award list also showed TWN Communications receiving $1,500,418 for Silver Consolidated School District on July 7, 2025, part of a separate project that the company said would deliver free internet for three years in Silver City and support online learning, telehealth, remote work and economic development.

The program sits inside a larger state push to close rural access gaps. OBAE says Student Connect began in 2024 after the Legislature appropriated $25 million for public school broadband projects, with money from the Connect New Mexico Fund created in 2021 through the Connect New Mexico Act. In its 2025 annual broadband report, the agency said statewide broadband access rose from 84% of homes and small businesses in 2021 to 90% in 2025, and that it has supported broadband for more than 80,000 homes and small businesses that lacked access four years ago.