On 27 Jan, Capacity reported two Alaskan towns, with a total population of 7,100 people, are to get gigabit fibre broadband after Quintillion expanded its coastal network.
Quintillion worked with the Liberty Broadband-owned GCI, Alaska’s largest local telco, to expand its fibre network to Nome, population 3,850, and Kotzebue, population 3,287.
Quintillion CEO George Tronsrue said: “Our two Alaska companies have come together to provide the citizens of Nome and Kotzebue new capabilities to realize even greater social, family, medical, educational, and economic benefit and efficiency. We are happy to partner with GCI to bring these products to their customers. Quintillion is constantly seeking mutually beneficial partnerships that can have a positive impact on the state and its people, while narrowing the digital divide until we can eliminate it altogether.”
GCI CEO and co-founder Ron Duncan, said the plan “means these rural Alaska hub communities, which are hundreds of miles from the road system, will have access to the same service you could expect to get in Anchorage or in major urban centres in the Lower 48 like Chicago or Los Angeles.”
It’s four years since Quintillion put its subsea network into service, linking the northern town of Prudhoe Bay to coastal communities, including Nome and Kotzebue on the west coast. Prudhoe Bay at the eastern end is connected to Fairbanks and Anchorage via terrestrial fibre.
“At Quintillion, we have seen the need and benefits of high-speed internet first-hand, but we have also seen the negative impact of the digital divide, especially in rural and remote communities, of which Alaska has many,” said Tronsrue.
He took over a few months before that from former CEO Elizabeth Ann Pierce, who in 2019 was sentenced to five years in prison for a US$270 million fraud connected with the financing of the company.
Following the agreement, GCI will connect its Terra network to Quintillion’s subsea Arctic cable, providing service to residential, healthcare, education, government and business customers.
Quintillion still plans to expand its subsea cable system westwards to Asia and eastwards to Europe via the Northwest Passage through the Alaskan and Canadian Arctic.
Last year GCI teamed up with T-Mobile US to offer mobile service in Alaska.
Then on 4 Feb, Capacity ran details on how Alaska Communications had expanded its broadband service to more than 3,700 locations in underserved areas of Alaska over the course of 2020.
The news broke in a year when access to internet connectivity became critical for its citizens, many of whom are now working and learning from home.
The expansion was funded in part through the Federal Communications Commission Connect America Fund Phase II (CAF II) program.
“The pandemic underscored just how critical the availability of affordable broadband service is for accessing work, education, healthcare and staying connected with friends and family. We’re thankful for federal programs like CAF II, which support rural broadband delivery,” said Bill Bishop (pictured), president and CEO of Alaska Communications.
So far Alaska Communications launched or expanded high-speed service available to homes and businesses in Delta Junction, Fairbanks, Homer, Hope, Kake, Kasilof, Kenai, Ninilchik, North Pole, Soldotna, Sterling and Thorne Bay.
“Under the program, internet speeds are a minimum 10Mbps download and 1Mbps upload,” said Bishop. “However, we chose to deliver higher speeds, up to 50Mbps download, 10Mbps upload, whenever possible to deliver additional value to our customers.”
Once complete, the project will be the single largest deployment of affordable broadband under any one program in Alaska.
“We’re excited about what 2021 has in store,” added Bishop. “Network expansions and new technologies we plan to bring to market this year will positively impact thousands of lives in both rural and urban areas of Alaska.”
At the start of the year, US telecoms group ATN International beat private equity investors to buy Alaska Communications for
