FCC Chairman Sees Rural Realities in Southwest Alaska

An Internet super highway is under construction in Southwest Alaska this year, but will the average household be able to afford access?

The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission toured Alaska to explore this issue. The last time an FCC Chairman was in Alaska was 2003. And a lot has changed since then. Sometime this year, 65 communities in Southwest Alaska will get high speed Internet access through “Project Terra,” an 88 million dollar effort funded by a combination of grants and loans to GCI, an Alaska telecommunications company. The money comes from the federal stimulus program. One of the reasons FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski came to Alaska was to check on the progress of “Project Terra.” He says it fulfills the Obama administration’s goals of job creation in more ways than one. First, more than 200 people were hired to build Project Terra’s network of fiber optic cables and microwave relays. And then, says Genachowski, there are also future jobs that broadband access will generate in Rural Alaska. He told a group that had gathered at a celebration in Dillingham that government can't do this job alone – and GCI’s “Project Terra” is a good model for building telecommunications infrastructure in Rural Alaska.

“Public-private partnerships are necessary to achieve that goal. It won't happen by itself,” said Chairman Genachowski. From Dillingham, the FCC Chairman flew to New Stuyahok with Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska). “I think it was an eye-opener,” said Sen Begich. “I don't think he’s ever seen a village. When he thinks of rural, he thinks “traditional” rural. You get to drive from one city to the next.”