With fiber repairs underway, GCI prepares to restore services in affected communities

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – GCI is closely tracking the efforts currently underway to repair Quintillion’s damaged subsea fiber off Alaska’s North Slope. More than two months after the Arctic fiber was cut, impacting services in Northern and Western Alaska communities, sea ice in the area has receded enough for crews to reach the break and begin repair efforts.

While the timeline for repairs to the Quintillion fiber remains unknown at this time, in anticipation of the fix GCI teams are preparing to transition customers back to their previous service levels. The process will not be immediate and is expected to take more than 24 hours.

GCI internet customers in impacted communities have received 100% credit for their bills for the duration of the outage.

“We know the service disruptions have been challenging for our customers in impacted communities and we appreciate their patience and understanding as we await the resolution of the fiber damage on Quintillion’s network,” said GCI Chief Customer Experience Officer Maureen Moore. “Once the Quintillion fiber repair is complete there are a few more steps GCI must take before services will be fully restored for all our customers.”

Once repairs are complete and the fiber is operational, teams of GCI technicians, engineers and support staff will begin transitioning customers’ services from backup systems onto the fiber.

“We expect the restoration process to be brief, only a few days at most, and our teams are working diligently to prepare for that process and minimize the transition period,” said Moore. “We know our customers are looking forward to getting their service back to normal, and we’re eager to make that happen.” 

In the hours following the break, GCI crews worked non-stop to move customers to backup systems, including the company’s TERRA Network and its robust satellite infrastructure, to ensure a basic level of connectivity for Alaskans in impacted communities.

“GCI’s response to this event has truly been companywide, there’s not a department it hasn’t touched in some way,” said Moore. “We’re especially grateful to the army of technicians, engineers, project managers and, of course, our local employees who have worked so hard over the last couple months to support these communities.”

Over the past 40+ years, GCI has invested more than $4 billion in its diverse statewide network, which includes extensive fiber, microwave and satellite infrastructure.

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.