Broadband Internet can stimulate employment

Editor,
 
As we focus our attention on creating jobs, we should acknowledge an important resource that can further our efforts to employ residents here in New Mexico. That resource is broadband Internet and it can play a huge role in stimulating employment.

Internet is the main tool that my company, Just Dine In Deliveries, uses to generate income and growth. In fact, without broadband Internet, my company would not exist. We are a restaurant marketing and delivery service based in Albuquerque and we market and coordinate delivery of food from mom-and-pop shops in town to individuals and companies.

Using broadband Internet, we take orders, call restaurants to confirm orders and then email orders to drivers’ cell phones for them to pick up and deliver.

Without broadband we wouldn’t be able to receive these orders let alone arrange for delivery of them. If customers don’t have Internet access, they can’t go online and order from our website.

We are therefore limited to where Internet service is deployed.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 23 percent of households in New Mexico don’t have access to the Internet (October 2010).

This statistic is troubling given that jobs can be created by making broadband more accessible. As more New Mexicans get hooked up to the Internet, my company can create more and more opportunities for drivers and administrative staff.

We have expanded to a network of 15 individual affiliates and employees and we are certainly hoping to continue growing. What’s more, when customers order from us, they give local restaurants business, adding incremental sales to restaurants’ “bottom lines.”

None of this would be possible without broadband Internet. Let’s do everything we can to support its deployment throughout New Mexico.

Ron Patel
Founder and Owner of Just Dine In Deliveries
UNM community member