With five projects currently underway, GCI is bringing fiber to 24 rural Alaska communities.
Super-fast internet speeds and unlimited data plans are coming to Deering and Kivalina! The subsea fiber project, recently announced by GCI, will deliver 2.5 gigabit per second speeds to residential customers in the coming years to both Northwest Alaska communities.
Starting in late August, GCI plans to deploy approximately 170 miles of fiber connecting Kivalina and Deering to existing fiber-optic infrastructure in Kotzebue. After the subsea fiber phase of the project is complete, GCI teams will begin building out fiber to homes and business across the community. Once the project is complete, residential customers will have access to 2.5 gig internet speeds, unlimited data, and the same plans and pricing as GCI customers in Anchorage.
“GCI is currently building out four major broadband fiber projects in 22 rural communities across Alaska,” said GCI Chief Communications Officer Heather Handyside. “We’re going to keep up the momentum as we add two more communities to that list. These are some of the most-remote communities in the nation and our projects demonstrate GCI’s commitment to closing the digital divide in Alaska. We couldn’t be prouder of our extraordinary team of experts. Everyone — from project managers to engineers to grant compliance officers to network technicians — is focused on getting these projects done and done right so we can connect even more Alaskans.”
Crews have already been hard at work in the region this summer, preparing the shore landing sites for the arrival of fiber and the installation of specially equipped shelters that will connect the subsea fiber to the local network that will deliver connectivity to homes and businesses.
Fiber for the GCI project was delivered to Seward in early August by the fiber ship IT Integrity. Once free of GCI’s fiber, the IT Integrity vessel departed for the Arctic Ocean where it will repair an offshore subsea fiber break north of Oliktok Point when conditions permit.
The GCI fiber is now aboard the Marine Vessel Unalaq, owned and operated by Bowhead Transport, and is currently enroute from Seward to the subsea deployment areas near Deering, Kivalina, and Kotzebue.
“With all of our equipment and materials either enroute and on schedule, we expect to begin the subsea fiber deployment in late August and wrap up in mid-September,” said GCI Principal Engineer of Telecommunications Delivery Bruce Rein. “The fiber will be deployed using two different vessels. The near-shore fiber segments of the project will be installed by crews aboard the landing craft M/V Unalaq while the deeper water subsea fiber will be deployed from the C/S IT Intrepid, operated by IT Marine.”
Rein, who has more than 35 years of experience in the industry, has built fiber systems worldwide and across all types of Alaska terrain including tundra and mountain ranges and along the bottom of rivers, lakes and the ocean floor.
The Deering-Kivalina Fiber Project is GCI’s fifth concurrent initiative to bring fiber-optic connectivity to more rural Alaska communities. GCI’s AU-Aleutians Phase I project, already launched in Unalaska, and AU-Aleutians Phase II fiber project will bring 2.5 gig residential internet speeds to 12 Aleutian, Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island communities. The joint Bethel Native Corporation and GCI AIRRAQ Phase I and AIRRAQ Phase II projects will deliver urban-level connectivity to 10 Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta communities.
GCI will host community meetings and answer questions about the project. The meeting in Deering will be held at the school at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 31. The meeting in Kivalina will take place at the community building at 1 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 1.
