Akutan residents now have access to lightning-fast 2.5 gig internet speeds
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – After working through an extensive checklist of technical work and testing, residential urban level speeds, plans and pricing are now available in Akutan. The remote Aleutian community is the fourth connected so far through GCI’s Aleutians Fiber Project, joining Unalaska, Sand Point and King Cove.
“Akutan presented some unique challenges for the project team that we didn’t face in the other communities,” said GCI Senior Project Manager Mike Bertsch. “The majority of the trenching work in town had to be done by hand, which meant a ton of physical labor for our crews on the ground, but the team never wavered, and they got the job done.”
“Trenching by hand is a very time-consuming process, especially in the spring when it’s still cold outside,” said GCI Project Manager Jerry Walker. “Overcoming challenges is just a part of working in remote areas and I’m proud of the work our crews have done to help close the digital divide in rural Alaska.”
Construction is currently underway in Chignik Bay, with crews digging trenches and installing fiber conduit. Chignik Bay is expected to become the fifth community connected through the Aleutians Fiber Project. GCI expects to begin construction in Larsen Bay this summer.
The first phase of the $100 million project is partially funded by a $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development’s ReConnect Program. It includes an 800-mile-long subsea fiber-optic backbone, deployed in 2022, and the delivery of high-speed internet to Unalaska, King Cove, Sand Point, Akutan, Chignik Bay and Larsen Bay.
The second phase of the project leverages the 800-mile subsea fiber to deliver service to six more communities in the region. The Native Village of Port Lions, in partnership with GCI, was awarded a $29.3 million grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to bring connectivity to Chignik Lagoon, Chignik Lake, Cold Bay, False Pass, Ouzinkie and Port Lions in the coming years.
For more information on GCI’s Aleutians Fiber Project, visit https://www.gci.com/aleutianfiberproject.
About GCI
Headquartered in Alaska, GCI provides data, mobile, video, voice and managed services to consumer, business, government, and carrier customers throughout Alaska, serving more than 200 communities. The company has invested more than $4 billion in its Alaska network and facilities over the past 40 years and recently launched true standards-based 5G NR service in Anchorage, now the nation’s northernmost 5G service area. Learn more about GCI at www.gci.com. GCI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Broadband Corporation (Nasdaq: LBRDA, LBRDK, LBRDP). Learn more about Liberty Broadband at http://www.libertybroadband.com.