A local telecom company is halfway done refueling its broadband network that serves such Northwest Arctic communities as Buckland, Kiana, Noatak, Noorvik, Selawik and Red Dog Mine.
As part of an annual effort, GCI delivered more than 56,000 gallons of fuel to half of the towers constituting the network called Terrestrial for Every Rural Region in Alaska, or TERRA, the company said in a statement.
TERRA network is a 3,300-mile fiber and microwave system that for over five years has served a total of 84 communities throughout Western and Northwest Alaska, providing connectivity to homes, clinics, schools and businesses, GCI said.
Last year, when a cut to a subsea fiber optic cable caused a several-month-long service interruption in the Arctic communities, GCI migrated some impacted services to GCI’s satellite network and the TERRA network, according to Heather Handyside, who was a GCI spokeswoman at the time.
GCI spokesman Josh Edge said having several networks to rely on is crucial in a state as big as Alaska, with challenging geography and terrain.
“One thing we’ve been saying for years is connecting to a state like this takes every tool in your toolkit,” Edge said. “For GCI, that’s a combination of fiber optic connectivity where we’re able to deliver it, as well as microwave and satellite. It’s really using ... our middle-mile technologies as effectively as we can to deliver connectivity to Alaskans throughout the state.”
The towers for the TERRA network are situated away from power grids on remote mountaintops, and every summer the company — through their partner, Bering Air — sends specialized Bell Huey helicopters to refuel them. The network serves 66 sites in total, and each site takes as many as 16 round trips to fill the tanks, adding up to more than 200 round trips, GCI said.
To make sure the refueling process doesn’t disturb traditional activities and the local ecosystem, the company plans the flights to avoid interfering with caribou migrations and subsistence hunting, GCI said. They also try to make sure the helicopters fly at least 1,500 feet above the ground, to not disturb wildlife.
To ensure optimal visibility for the flights, pilots also need to account for inconsistent Alaska weather and in some years for wildfires, though the latter hasn’t been an issue this year so far, Edge said.
The company expects the annual refueling project to be completed in early fall, between late September and early October.