Alaska

It used to be a real challenge to talk to someone across Alaska, or across the country. Many Alaskans remember waiting in line to use the only telephone in a village. For me, it was the phone at the winter watchman's house in Ekuk. We each got a few minutes because everyone was waiting. Long-distance calls were expensive, and simply talking to family or conducting business required patience and persistence. Even after the internet arrived, connectivity remained limited in many parts of Alaska.

Recently released records show that the Biden administration’s heavy fiber focus for broadband deployment was extraordinarily costly to taxpayers. Obtained by the Taxpayers Protection Alliance Foundation through a Freedom of Information Act request to the U.S.

The cost of online access for schools and libraries across Alaska could increase dramatically if a long-standing federal subsidy ends. The Federal Communications Commission is reviewing the E-rate program that for three decades has helped schools and libraries across the nation lower their connectivity costs. In the past, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has suggested the subsidy should be reduced or eliminated. Alaska school leaders and public librarians are worried about a potential cut at a time when districts are already struggling with budget deficits.

After reselling Starlink's traditional service to business customers who are out of reach of terrestrial broadband connections, Alaska's GCI is now doing more with Starlink by tapping the satellite broadband service for backup connectivity at several locations. GCI, Alaska's top cable and mobile operator, said it plans to use Starlink's dedicated service with bonded gateways to provide more resilient and reliable connectivity to thousands of customers across several "major community hubs," including Bethel, Sitka, Kotzebue and Dillingham.

In Alaska, where many communities can only be reached by plane or boat, the Federal Communications Commission has given telecommunications companies $4.6 billion in Universal Service Fund subsidies since 2016. That’s more than $600 per Alaskan per year. More per resident than in any other state. Yet after all that spending, Alaska still ranks near the bottom for access to the very land-based, high-speed internet service the money was meant to deliver. Some communities have yet to be wired at all.

The Alaska Broadband Office has posted an interactive map highlighting the state’s Final Proposal subgrantee awards for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. The map enables users to see awardees’ winning projects as a group and isolate each project individually. Projects are identified by location ID, project name, ID, description, and community. There is an empty space for the project address, suggesting that this information may be added in the future.

Alaska Communications is expanding its high-speed broadband network thanks to funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program. With a grant award of over $124 million, Alaska Communications will deploy fiber and next-generation fixed wireless broadband infrastructure to serve over 9,000 unserved and underserved locations across Alaska.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration at the Department of Commerce announced it is recommending nine applications for award, totaling approximately $6.5 million, under the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program.

The vast majority of states and territories have released their Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program final proposals for public comment. Many have closed their feedback periods, wrapped up their plans, and submitted those plans to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for approval. For the few remaining states that received extensions on the deadline to submit final plans, this process is still underway. Here are a few of the states that are in the process of completing their plans.