The 276km system will connect the cities of Cordova and Seward in Alaska, with branching units for additional connectivity to Johnstone Point and the Village of Chenega.
“It is an Honor to have the opportunity to assist in this critical project,” said Philip deGuzman, director of client solutions at Pioneer Consulting.
“Cordova will soon benefit from high-speed, reliable connectivity. We’re proud to support this exciting effort and to work alongside Cordova Telecom Cooperative.”
Funded by the US Department of Agriculture’s ReConnect Program the FISH cable project will deliver high-speed broadband service to Cordova, Johnstone Point, and Chenega which are some of Alaska’s most remote regions.
The news builds on the existing relationship between the two companies as in 2021, Pioneer Consulting was brought in to assist with the project’s initial feasibility study which in turn resulted in its successful USDA grant application.
Following on from this, Pioneer has now been contracted to conduct a desktop study analysis and a detailed engineering study for the FISH cable. It is expected to be completed by Q3 of 2023.
“The FISH project is significant in many ways, but most importantly it will deliver Cordova the critical middle mile redundancy and internet capacity it needs,” said Jeremiah Beckett, CEO of Cordova Telecom Cooperative.
“It was imperative that we have a team with the necessary skills and experience to provide an accurate assessment of the FISH project. Upon completion of the preliminary study conducted by Pioneer in 2021, we knew they were the right partner to make this system a reality.”
Once completed, the FISH cable system will provide multiple terabits of capacity between the four communities, with the potential of up to a gigabit of capacity.
