Albuquerque mayor slams fiber firms for 'nightmare' construction

Yahoo

10-05-2025

May 9—The city of Albuquerque issued a stop-work order against Ezee Fiber, saying the company has run "roughshod" over a Northeast Heights neighborhood, and promised more rules to prevent the activity in the future.
The move comes as officials raise concerns about three companies permitted to develop Albuquerque's fiber optic network, something the city has touted as a key technology to improve economic competitiveness. Each company has had stop-work orders issued against them, with two of the firms currently barred from doing work underneath Albuquerque neighborhood streets.
"Unfortunately, the way this is being done, especially by some of these providers," Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said, "is an absolute nightmare for our homeowners."
Over the last year, the city has received thousands of complaints about the companies, sometimes totaling 200 per month. The complaints involve workers leaving yards damaged, working outside normal hours, blocking driveways, busting sidewalks and communicating poorly, if at all, with residents. In at least one instance, the city also said Ezee Fiber struck a gas line.
"And so these, typically subcontractors, are just riding roughshod all over these neighborhoods," Keller said.
Keller said all three companies permitted to lay fiber in Albuquerque are guilty of this. But Friday's news conference focused primarily on work done by Ezee Fiber, a Houston-based company that had been laying fiber optic cable in the neighborhoods around Ventura and Paseo del Norte NE.
Keller also said Ezee Fiber had broken the law by working after a stop-work order was issued. However, a spokesperson for Ezee Fiber said that was inaccurate and that no unpermitted work had occurred.
"At every point, including after the order was issued, Ezee Fiber has acted in good faith, taken immediate steps to prevent and address construction issues, and complied fully with the city's permitting and regulatory requirements," Jim Schwartz, spokesperson for Ezee Fiber, said in a statement. "We remain committed to transparency and collaboration, and we expect the same accuracy and fairness in return from City leadership."
Schwartz also said that Ezee Fiber "recognizes the frustration construction brings to Albuquerque residents, and we take full responsibility for any incidents that impact landscaping or existing infrastructure buried in the right of way where we are installing fiber optic lines."
"Unfortunately, even with the most careful planning and use of line locator services, construction crews will occasionally impact these utilities or disturb landscaping; however, Ezee Fiber is committed to being a good neighbor, helping to support progress for New Mexico families, and quickly resolving any issues to restore service or restore landscapes," Schwartz said.
Schwartz added that Ezee Fiber continues to see Albuquerque as a partner and will continue to work with the city.
The city's Broadband Office touts fiber optics on its website as a faster, more reliable and cost-effective internet service.
"It'll help support our needs as the city grows into the future, and we all want construction to be quick and out of our way," the city's broadband program manager, Catherine Nicolaou, said. "We're hearing from our residents and seeing that this is too quick and quite careless, as the mayor mentioned."
Still, fiber is the future, Nicolaou argued.
"We're looking at how our city can remain competitive with the rest of the world in terms of access to technology," Nicolaou said. "Everyone should have equitable access to a high-speed fiber connection, and we support that by issuing permits to private companies to install these fiber optic connections in public utility easements."
Nicolaou said three firms are permitted to lay fiber in Albuquerque: Ezee Fiber, Gigapower and Vexus Fiber. Both Ezee Fiber and Vexus Fiber are barred from working in Albuquerque until they show they comply with the law, while Gigapower has worked its way back from a previous stop-work order.
Alan Varela, the city's director of Planning, said the companies submit project work orders. Those work orders specify what they're doing and include agreements to follow the rules, such as repairing damaged yards and communicating with residents about their work.
But changes to the regulations are coming, Varela said. Those include requiring the companies to notify neighbors of impending work and workers identify the company for which they are working. Varela said the city will also start fining companies out of compliance.
"We're going to make sure that we hold their feet to the fire and that they slow down and do it right," Varela said. "They shouldn't have come in the way they did. We're happy they're here, but they didn't need to come in in such a careless, haphazard fashion."
Watching all this was William Schooley, one resident whose yard had been trashed by fiber optic installers. Schooley lives in a different neighborhood, but said he came to news conference to observe. For him, the problem started about 12 months ago, when workers came out and spray-painted lines as indicators for future work. He said he was given no notice beforehand and, when he confronted the workers, was given little information about the development. But the big thing for Schooley — paint left on the sidewalks and in the road.
"It's in my front yard and it's been there for a year," Schooley said.
Over the period of work, Schooley said that sewage service was briefly unavailable to some residents, while others had to navigate destroyed sidewalks and blocked driveways. The work is done now, Schooley said but he hopes the new rules and regulations can help mitigate circumstances like his in the future.