In less than two weeks, a partnership between Bethel Native Corporation and telecommunications provider GCI is set to flip the switch on fiber internet in Bethel, bringing speeds and pricing on par with what customers in Anchorage experience.
"Getting to Bethel is the big deal. That's like, that's bringing the on-ramp to the information super highway into Bethel," GCI president and chief operating officer Greg Chapados said. "And then Bethel will be the focal point for activity across the Y-K Delta."
Chapados said GCI is targeting May 8 to go live with the AIRRAQ network, bringing residential fiber internet at speeds of up to 2.5 gigabits per second. He said the company will simultaneously be launching its first 5G mobile services in Bethel, something separate from AIRRAQ, but enabled by the new ultra-fast fiber.
Since 2021, the unique tribal-private partnership behind AIRRAQ has expanded the scope of the network as federal funding has become available. The project has received more than $100 million in grants to build a network stretching 900 miles and serving 13 communities along the lower Kuskokwim River and far up the Bering Sea coast. The project is applying for funds to extend the network to communities on the lower Yukon River as well.
"If they are approved and announced, then we are going to get to that point where we will serve … close to 16,000 residents of the Y-K Delta," Chapados said. "Frankly, 10 years ago I would have thought it would never happen, because it's just, the amount of investment required is enormous."
Once the network reaches Emmonak at the mouth of the Yukon River, sometime in 2027, Chapados said GCI intends to connect up to subsea cables stretching from Nome to Prudhoe Bay, operated by communications company Quintillion. This would create a massive fiber optic ring around Alaska linking to the lower 48 that Chapados said wouldn’t be prone to single points of failure.
"If you've got a ringed network, that means if you have a break anywhere on the network, you can change the flow of traffic and continue to serve the communities," Chapados said. "It's only if a community has a break on both sides of its network, the incoming network and the outgoing network, that they become isolated. That's a very rare event."
In summer 2023, GCI’s services were impacted by a subsea cable cut in the Beaufort Sea to the fiber network operated by Quintillion. As an un-ringed network, the cut left some Arctic communities in the dark for weeks and brought internet speeds to a crawl across Western Alaska. At the time, low Earth orbit satellite internet proved a lifesaver for many. And today, Starlink units are a familiar sight on rooftops in Bethel and across the region.
Bethel Native Corporation president and CEO Ana Hoffman, who has handled the extensive tribal consultation and consent process for AIRRAQ, admitted Starlink has gained a foothold, but said communities in the region may find that fiber internet opens up greater opportunities.
"If you're using your internet really just to download a few Netflix shows in the evening, maybe you don't need anything more than that Starlink connection," Hoffman said. "But when you're interacting through your internet, if you're uploading content, or if you're gaming, or if you're in a class and you're presenting, I think that's where people will really see and feel the difference in the experience."
Uncertainty ahead
While AIRRAQ has been funded to bring fiber to 13 communities, there is significant uncertainty about the future of the Biden-era grant programs that could further grow AIRRAQ and similar fiber projects underway in rural Alaska.
The lion’s share of federal broadband grants are doled out by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) under the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Trump administration’s new picks to head both agencies have called for an overhaul of the NTIA’s largest program: the Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment, or BEAD, program. In its current form, it would bring more than $1 billion to fund high-speed internet access in underserved parts of Alaska.
Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick has criticized BEAD for what he calls “woke mandates,” as well as its burdensome regulations, and favoritism of fiber internet, which some say would position Starlink to receive a much larger piece of the pie.
Chapados said changes to BEAD could further delay a program that has already hit plenty of snags since it launched in 2021.
"It's unclear right now whether or not there'll be efforts to restructure BEAD, maybe loosen up some of the requirements that are in the original program," Chapados said. "That's going to probably delay the actual award of grants out of the program, but we don’t believe BEAD’s going to be eliminated."
Regardless of how politics play out amid the tumultuous policies of the executive branch, Hoffman says the AIRRAQ network has achieved a milestone in Bethel.
"Although there is a lot of uncertainty out there, this one is a certainty. We are turning this service up, and we're going to feel that change in a good way," Hoffman said.
Next up after Bethel, AIRRAQ plans to switch on high-speed internet for the communities of Oscarville, Napaskiak, Eek, and Platinum by the end of 2025.
