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Rural Broadband & Kodiak Kenai Cable Company in the News
December 11, 2009: Stimulus Funds Spur Investment in Alaska's Internet Connectivity
December 7, 2009: Alaska Broadband Proposals Flood into D.C.
October 20, 2009: 'Shovel-Ready' Kodiak Kenai Cable Co. Hopes for 'Middle-Mile' Money to Fund Broadband Buildout in Alaska
September 18, 2009: Cable Company Waits for Grant Money to Proceed with Optic Link Project
July 1, 2009: Alaska Telecom Companies Angle for Internet Stimulus Funds
April 29, 2009: Obama Official: Rural Networks Key To Internet Buildout
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December 11, 2009
Stimulus Funds Spur Investment In Alaska's Internet Connectivity
By Matthew Potter | Dec 11, 2009
There has been a great deal of criticism of the waste or weird projects involved with the “Stimulus” bill passed in March by Congress. That does not mean that many of the companies or projects receiving funding are not worthy or good use of the funds. There are times and places where due to conditions such as in Alaska require the Government to step up and fund infrastructure projects. Due to its small population and large area it would be hard for a private company to do some projects and do it at a profit. The Federal and state governments are able to provide the necessary funding to aid in completing projects.
One piece of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was money set aside to improve rural and distant parts of the United States internet connectivity. In September we had written about Echostar applying for ARRA funds to support their purchase and launch of satellites to provide more coverage of the U.S. A criticism of this was that many of these types of projects seemed to be to fund planned expansions or programs where traditional capital was not available.
In Alaska Kodiak Kenai Cable Company (KKCC) put together a group to extend a fiber optic cable along the West Coast of the State to reach Northern communities. This Northern Fiber Optic Link project’s goal is to link schools, communities, Native American tribes and local government entities with better levels of internet. It is relying on private financing and then a loan from the government as well as some grants. Because of the limited population, the cost involved in building a cable system that can stand the conditions and the cost of installing an undersea cable one hundred percent private financing was not available.
The program seems to illustrate the desires of the Federal Government in passing the ARRA as it will lead directly to several thousand jobs from twenty-three different states. Part of these will be from the high unemployment areas of Alaska such as the Native Americans tribes. The current estimate is about 5,900 jobs of which Texas will have the most at 891. The total cost of the manufacture and installation will be $345 million meaning that each job will require about $29,000 to create.
The undersea cable will be manufactured by Tyco Telecom as the only U.S. company able to do this. The rules of the Federal funds require the use of American manufactured cable and only Tyco is able to do this. The project will require over 22,000 km of cable when it is finally complete. Ideally if the program starts on time it will be finished by the end of 2011.
In today’s economic world secure, stable access to high speed internet for schools, businesses and government is almost essential. This project will provide that for Alaska. Of course like all such projects it must be able to do so on schedule and at the most efficient cost.
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December 7, 2009 (Fairbanks News Miner):
Alaska Broadband Proposals Flood into D.C.
By Christopher Eshleman
FAIRBANKS — Tanana Chiefs Conference wants to boost communication between its villages and the rest of the world.
It would take miles of fiber, dozens of communication towers and tens of millions of dollars. The project, if successful, would bring high-speed Internet access to 50 villages from Holy Cross, 400 miles southwest of Fairbanks, all the way to the Canadian border, according to the Alaska Native consortium.
The group, however, is only one among many itching to expand fiber optic lines and broadband access across Alaska, where villages collectively have some of the slowest Internet speeds in the country.
Billions of federal dollars are available, and could soon be coming, for projects like TCC’s. Congress in February set aside more than $7 billion for grants and loans to expand infrastructure needed to carry high-speed Internet, a move made as part of the federal economic stimulus plan. The money will generally be headed to rural parts of the country, as telecommunication marketplaces have already largely taken hold in major cities. The federal departments of Agriculture and Commerce are set to make decisions on the first round of applicants soon, possibly before the end of the year.
TCC has applied for up to $273 million in grants for the project. Jim Williams, Tanana Chiefs’ chief information officer, said it could make it cheaper for communities to the west and north of the consortium’s jurisdiction to develop their own future broadband projects.
“Fairbanks is the epicenter of fiber accessibility in Alaska and the most logical location to provide gateways to major regions,” Williams said.
Congress’ broadband initiative spurred a rush of applications from Alaska in August, including separate mega-proposals from TCC and another Native group looking to circle the state with an undersea fiber optic cable. The Alaska-specific applications were among more than 2,000 that arrived from around the United States, plans that fell under the first round of applications now being reviewed by two federal communication agencies.
Those two offices expect to start awarding grants and loans this month, said Jessica Schrader, a spokeswoman for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
Alaska already hosts a fiber optic backbone that connects its southern coastlines to Prudhoe Bay. But much of the Internet access arrives, particularly in rural areas, at speeds far slower than considered the staple for broadband: 768 kilobits per second. The result, as is true with many rural areas of the United States, is that many residents are less accustomed to using the Internet than is needed to keep up with the rapidly changing technology.
“In Alaska that is almost any place outside of the largest cities,” said Steve Smith, the top information technology officer at the University of Alaska.
Alaska’s broadband availability lags behind most places in the United States, which itself hosts less advanced broadband infrastructure than many other developed nations including Canada, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
A collection of education, health care, social service and government agencies are looking to expand awareness, and encourage the use, of the Internet through a Bridging the e-Skills Gap project. The university system, as the project’s lead, has applied for more than $4.5 million for the project, saying in its application that the percentages of households with digital broadband service is the lowest in the country. The university system has also requested millions to improve computing centers in rural communities.
Rep. David Guttenberg, D-Fairbanks, said millions for Alaska for broadband projects would likely also refuel legislative discussion over the state’s role in supporting Internet service. Guttenberg last year proposed a bill that would create a state office to manage and oversee such projects across the state, projects he said would play an underestimated role in rural economic development.
“Alaska, with its vast regions, creates bridges to everywhere by having broadband available,” he said.
Perhaps the most recognizable proposal in the bunch is one from the Kodiak Kenai Cable Company, a subsidiary of the Kodiak-based Old Harbor Native Corp. The firm has applied for hundreds of millions in grants and loans for its proposal to drop a ring of undersea fiber optic around Alaska. It would start at an existing undersea line at Kodiak Island, span the Aleutian Chain, parallel Alaska’s western coastline and turn east to reach Prudhoe Bay, with landing points along the route.
Walt Ebell, the company’s chief executive, said construction would last two years, create thousands of jobs and connect 142 communities. He said it would enable carriers to reach enough homes, small businesses and other users to distribute costs so telecommunication prices will become affordable across the board in rural areas.
“KKCC is proud that rather than focusing on a single community with a rifle shot proposal we chose to address the needs of all Western Alaska,” Ebell said.
Other groups from Alaska applying for broadband stimulus grants or loans include:
• United Utilities’ proposal to connect 65 southwest Alaska communities through a combination of undersea and overland fiber optic lines and microwave technology;
• A plan by the Bristol Bay Native Association to connect areas between Dillingham and the Kenai peninsula with broadband;
• The Northwest Arctic Borough’s proposed blend of fiber optics and microwave to help 16 communities market traditional Native art and cultural products;
• A request from the university system for $22 million in grants to expand access to broadband “at community colleges, public libraries, rural health and tribal government facilities.”
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October 20, 2009 (TMCnet):
'Shovel-Ready' Kodiak Kenai Cable Co. Hopes for 'Middle-Mile' Money to Fund Broadband Buildout in Alaska
By Marisa Torrieri, TMCnet Editor
To travelers and tourists who come here to experience its raw, picturesque landscapes and mountain-lined horizons, Alaska is frontier of breathtakingly untouched natural beauty.
But beyond this picturesque veneer lie miles and miles of rural state land where members of 143 Native American tribes and 142 communities still don’t have broadband Internet service – and all the benefits that come with it.
It’s those communities – along with U.S. military missions, and ocean and climate research operations – that comprise the driving force for the Northern Fiber Optic Link, one of the newest and largest proposed fiber optic cable networks in the country.
Project partners for the NFOL, led by Kodiak Kenai Cable Company, have applied for funds through the NTIA and RUS to deploy a shovel-ready, 3,500 mile “middle-mile” submarine fiber optic network across Western Alaska -- covering the largest and most remote unserved area of the country.
According to KKCC, NFOL construction will directly benefit 23 states around the country and directly support nearly 6,000 jobs. More than 80 percent of these jobs and money spent on the project will occur outside of Alaska. Additionally, the NFOL will pump more than $431 million of economic activity into the economies of 23 states.
“In terms of jobs created or saved, this would be one of the largest single job creating infrastructure projects in the entire country to be funded under the Recovery Act, and one of the most efficient in terms of dollars spent per job,” said Walt Ebell, CEO of KKCC.
“As you recall from the Stimulus act, the number one goal is to spur job creation,” Justin Stiefel, a consultant for KKCC, told TMCnet. “As the government decides which initiatives to fund, job creation is at the forefront. Then, the next objective is to serve ‘unserved’ and ‘underserved’ areas. Based on job numbers released last week by the administration, this KKCC proposal alone would increase the Recovery Act job tally by 20 percent nationally when considering the 30,000 jobs accounted for to date.”
NFOL’s proposed system starts at Kodiak Island, about 200 miles south of Anchorage. That’s where KKCC got its start as a broadband provider for a commercial rocket launch facility supporting U.S. ballistic missile defense efforts, using broadband technology to test missiles, rockets and other equipment. Past the island, NFOL’s proposed buildout trail continues deep to the Alaskan mainland, which encompasses “the largest unserved area in the country,” Stiefel said.
Currently, these areas have limited to broadband via costly satellite technology systems.
“The average cost of a T1 mile in rural Alaska, at approximately 1.5 MB per second, currently runs anywhere from $8,000 to $15,000 per month,” Ebell said. “This is many multiples higher than what is charged in the Lower 48, and satellite service is not as reliable as fiber optic cable.”
“It’s very difficult to support education and remote healthcare needs,” Stiefel said. “With satellite, you have latency, you have downtime, and its cost prohibitive for the limited amount of bandwidth you might get.”
KKCC’s nearly 1,000-page application is requesting funds from the NTIA and RUS broadband stimulus programs. The proposal pending review at RUS is for $173 million in loans and $172 million in grants. The company already has $84 million set aside in matching funding. Under an alternative separate NTIA request, KKCC is seeking a $215 million grant and has lined up private matching funds of $215 million. Under the RUS and NTIA programs, the project would be funded under one pool of funds or the other, but not both programs simultaneously.
But with more than 2,200 applications already filed for more than $28 billion funding -- and only one-seventh of that amount available in the first round -- competition is stiff. And although KKCC has done its homework and made a strong case for the money – detailing exactly how the money will create jobs, and how its NFOL project would be executed and completed – the “carrier’s carrier,” which lays down the cable upon which broadband Internet rides, faces another big challenge: The money allotted by the government for “middle mile” projects is reportedly much lower than for “last mile” or “first mile” projects.
Still, Stiefel said KKCC is optimistic about its prospects. The project has received support from a wide array of elected officials throughout the country including Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA), U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-MA) and U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), among many others, Stiefel said. Further support has come from the scientific research community including Oceana, the Alaska Ocean Observing System; business community leaders like Wilfred P. Ryan, president of Arctic Transportation Services; as well as health providers, schools and universities, and the State Chamber of Commerce.
“To qualify for the money, you’ve got to be shovel ready,” Ebell said. “You have to have engineering and designing done, as well as the permits and land agreements ready to go. This money hit so fast in February, that we don’t think there will be a lot of middle mile projects that will be truly shovel ready under the program rules.”
Marisa Torrieri is a TMCnet Editor. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
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September 18, 2009 (Kodiak Daily Mirror):
Cable Company Waits for Grant Money to Proceed with Optic Link Project
By Louis Garcia
Residents on the western side of Alaska will enjoy faster, more reliable Internet access in two years if all goes according to plan.
The Northern Fiber Optic Link project can begin as early as Nov. 15 if an application submitted to the federal government meets all criteria in an evaluation.
Satellite services provided to communities will be replaced with the Northern Fiber Optic Link, which extends the Kodiak Kenai Fiber Link System placed in service January 2007.
The 3,400-mile line starts on Kodiak Island and runs along southwest, western and Arctic Alaska. The line ends at Prudhoe Bay.
Evaluation of the estimated $431 million project was scheduled to take place Monday, but was delayed to an unannounced date.
Unspecified criteria from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce and National Telecommunications and Information Administration must be met to receive federal stimulus grant money for the project.
Steve Giani, vice president of Old Harbor Native Corporation, said the Kodiak Kenai Cable Company, LLC (KKCC) requested $171 million in grants and will take out a loan of $172 million for the project. The rest of the money will come from the company.
Without grant money, rural communities will have to wait for faster Internet.
“We don’t think it is potentially viable (to do the project) without the grant process,” Giani said.
The application process has been tiresome, and must make it through two cuts before a go-ahead. Evaluation results are expected to be favorable when decided on Nov. 4.
“There are a number of hurdles to go through yet, but we are doing all of the legwork so this is a shovel-ready project,” Giani said.
The KKCC already conducted a desktop survey and visited communities, governments, libraries, schools, colleges and other sites impacted by the fiber optic project.
“We’ve received numbers of letters in support from all the agencies,” Giani said.
Tyco Telecommunications is building the wire. The project will take two years to complete under an accelerated build schedule, if no more delays are encountered.
“If the government delays the process, we will be outside our construction schedule and could be delayed another construction season,” Giani said.
Giani isn’t worried about the project not getting the go ahead. In addition to doing pre-work on land and working with affected communities, KKCC also expects the project to save or create roughly 5,700 jobs in 23 states almost immediately from the project.
“It meets all the desires of the government for the stimulus project,” he said.
U.S Census information also supports the need for faster Internet in Alaska. Alaska and New Hampshire had the highest rates of Internet use from home, work or public places according to 2007 U.S. Census data. Yet much of the Internet capacity in use is still lacking speed and reliability. Giani feels this is a problem.
“The western rural communities are the last unserved broadband region of the United States,” he said.
Mirror writer Louis Garcia can be reached at lgarcia@kodiakdailymirror.com
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July 1, 2009 (KTUU, Channel 2 News, Anchorage, Alaska):
Alaska Telecom Companies Angle for Internet Stimulus Funds
by Ashton Goodell
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The U.S. Department of Commerce released guidelines Wednesday for a $7.2 billion program meant to expand broadband Internet service to rural communities.
Good news for Bush communities, because when it comes to getting rural Alaska online, we're slower than dialup.
Alaska ranks at the top of the list when it comes to Internet use -- folks are dialed in, but in many areas it's just not fast enough and the connection is limited.
So now Internet companies are competing for federal stimulus money to connect rural America to high-speed Internet.
Alaska has the most ground to cover when it comes to Internet connections, which makes it a prime candidate under the grant guidelines.
"The project is just exactly the kind of project that the (stimulus program) and existing programs are geared toward -- an entire region of substandard telecommunication service would benefit," said Ik Icard with the Kodiak Kenai Cable Co.
The idea is to help people and businesses grow and connect, and create new jobs by building the infrastructure for the network.
Vice President Joe Biden says it's about time the country got up to speed.
"We think we are the most modern, technologically advanced nation in the world. Fourteen nations in the world have high-speed Internet connecting their countries far superior to us. How do you compete?" he said.
One applicant's plan would run a fiber optic cable from Kodiak to Nome and Nome to Prudhoe Bay. Internet carriers like GCI, ACS, or smaller local providers would plug into that network and extend it from a hub to smaller communities.
"There's fiber infrastructure down to Kodiak Island, this new system would extend from Narrow Cape on Kodiak Island off the shelf to Dutch Harbor with a branching unit into King Cove and ultimately additional capacity into neighboring communities there," said Icard.
The system would offer extensive broadband coverage to Southwestern, Western, and Northern Alaska where right now Internet service is spotty at best.
"When we are trying to do online education and we can't access that because the data stream is either so poor or so slow that we time out among other things, or it just becomes non-economic to try to learn that way because you try to wait 9 or 10 minutes for an image to load and then you have to go to the next thing," said Sonia Handforth-Kome of Unalaska.
"Typically satellite is the least reliable. You have a piece of equipment in space and you have any number of things can happen at the ground station. So if you have fiber in the ground or a microwave system that goes over the ground through the air it's much more reliable," said Curtiss Clifton with GCI.
Kodiak Kenai Cable will start laying the fiber optic cable as soon as (and if) it's approved under the stimulus guidelines -- a project with a stack of paperwork and 3,500 miles of ground to cover.
The stimulus money would only pay for part of the project. But without that grant money they say the fiber optic cable wouldn't be economically feasible for years.
The cable companies said it would take two years to build the infrastructure and longer to branch out to rural communities.
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April 29, 2009 (Wall Street Journal):
Obama Official: Rural Networks Key To Internet Buildout
National Economic Council member and special assistant to President Barack Obama, Susan Crawford, said rural communications networks that connect to major Internet arteries will be key investments that will come from the $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus money.
Telephone carriers and cable operators have said Obama's goal of blanketing the country with high-speed Internet can't be accomplished without significant investment in so-called "backhaul" networks that stretch to hard-to-reach communities. There is some debate, however, about whether those networks should be financed with government money or private-sector investments. Extending cable to rural communities can be prohibitively expensive for Internet carriers, which is why those areas tend to have few connectivity options. Speaking at a briefing sponsored by the Media Access Project, Crawford suggested that government investment in backhaul networks would allow "a variety of service providers" to offer Internet access in the "last mile" of connectivity in rural areas.
Crawford said she is "fascinated" by Australia's recent announcement [see Building the Great Wall of Fiber] that it will spend some $30 billion to bring fiber networks to every home. Similar plans are being considered by the Netherlands and Singapore. "These governments understand that a wholesale network can deliver massive economic benefits," she said. "A digital economy requires fiber." A similar investment by the United States would cost several times more than the government has committed thus far.
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