- Details
- By Chez Oxendine
- Economic Development
Calista Corporation
Location: Anchorage, AK
Award Amount: $52,559,385.14
Project Summary: The Broadband Infrastructure Deployment project proposes to install fiber to directly connect 2,967 unserved Native American households across 10 Alaska Native Villages within the Calista Region with fiber-to-the-home 100 Gbps/100 Gbps symmetrical service, according to the NTIA website.
Update: Ten communities along the Kuskokwim river of Alaska will be connected to the internet after facing years of poor service thanks to the state’s topographical and rural challenges. The connection comes as a result of $52.56 million awarded by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, awarded in October 2022 to the Calista Corporation, one of thirteen Alaska Native Regional Corporations (ANC) created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971.
The planned project will bring wired service to roughly 2,300 rural Alaskans in the Lower Kalskag, Upper Kalskag, Tuluksak, Akiak, Akiachak, Kwethluk and Napakiak communities, while employing a last mile fixed wireless solution for three other communities (unspecified in the Calista announcement.) Homes receiving direct fiber connections target 1 GB speeds, while the fixed wireless solution targets “above 25 mb/s download and 3 mb/s upload,” per the project summary.
Calista President and CEO Andrew Guy called the project a necessary step toward modernizing each village, enabling remote learning, remote work and telehealth services that have proven critical in the COVID-19 era.
“Reliable, affordable, high-speed internet is a key to connecting our people to the world, preserving and advancing our culture, and offering opportunities for young people in our communities,” Guy said. “In combination with other broadband projects in our region, the Alaska FiberOptic Project will create the foundation for many socio-economic improvements and opportunities in the region now and for decades to come.”
The new connection - a 180-mile undersea fiber network stretching from Holy Cross Native Village to Napakiak Native Village, linking up with two other projects being constructed by ANCs Doyon, Limited and Gana-A ‘Yoo Limited. In total, the projects constitute the Alaska FiberOptic Project built in partnership with Alaska Communications.
So far, two of the three segments — the ones being built by Calista Corporation, and Doyon, Limited — have received Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program awards. Gan-A ‘Yoo, Limited has submitted an application, but has not yet been awarded a grant, per the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program website.
Alaska Communications has begun the permitting process, and in the interim, has offered tribal members a $75/month discount on their existing internet services through President Joe Biden’s Affordable Connectivity Program.
“This is an exciting milestone for Alaska,” Alaska Communications President and CEO Bill Bishop said in a statement. “We’re honored to work with our partners on a project that will be life-changing for many Alaskans, providing the technical expertise and experience building, operating and maintaining critical broadband infrastructure.”
