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The Project: Northern Fiber Optic Link
High speed, broadband cable has changed the way the world shares information, does business, and delivers education. Participation in the modern economy requires broadband connectivity. Communities without access to broadband are at a clear disadvantage.
Nearly 40 percent of Alaska’s land area (equal to nearly ten percent of the land mass of the 48 contiguous states) – the entire western half of the state – does not have reliable, high speed broadband connectivity. It is served instead by sporadic satellite service which is plagued by limited capacity and frequent disruptions.
The Kodiak Kenai Cable Company (KKCC) will provide fiber optic cable service to this region by constructing the Northern Fiber Optic Link (Northern Fiber Link) which will extend the Kodiak Kenai Fiber Link system from Kodiak Island to the Aleutian Islands and Western Alaska with landing points at King Cove, Unalaska (Dutch Harbor), Naknek (King Salmon), Dillingham, Bethel, Nome, Kotzebue, Barrow, and Prudhoe Bay (Deadhorse).
KKCC proposes to fund the project by using a combination of National Telecommunications and Information Administration Broadband Grants and Rural Utility Service Grants and Loans authorized under the American Resource and Recovery Act (ARRA).
KKCC will operate as a neutral "carrier's carrier" open to all carriers on an equal and non-monopolistic basis. This will spur further investments in new innovation, competition and increased service offerings for all the residents of Western Alaska and the North Slope. In addition the system will support critical fisheries research, climate and oceanic data collection, marine vessel monitoring and tracking, Coast Guard activities, national defense, Homeland Security, health care, education, residential use, commerce, business and individuals.