Alaska to see fiber expansion

Alaska Communications says that after a successful pilot of fiber-to-the-home service in 2022, it plans to extend its fiber network to another 14,000 homes over the course of 2023. Alaska Communications’ fiber network already serves some neighborhoods in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Soldotna. The fiber service offers three pricing tiers of symmetrical speeds up to 2.5 Gbps. While Alaska Communications is starting with fiber in the state’s urban areas, it also has longer-term plans which include a rural focus and federal funding. Alaska Communications is part of the Alaska FiberOptic Project—a collaboration with Calista Corporation, Doyon Limited, Gana-A ‘Yoo Limited, and the Tanana Chiefs Conference—to connect up to 20 communities along the Yukon River and Kuskokwim River with fiber. The project is split into three phases, and the partners have applied for federal funding through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is administering the largest of a number of federal broadband deployment funding mechanisms.  Alaska Communications says that it began the permitting process for the build-out in January 2023.