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Akutan, a town along the Aleutian Chain with around 100 year-round residents, is now connected to 5G wireless service as part of the GCI Aleutians Fiber Project.
Earlier this year, Akutan joined Unalaska, Sand Point and King Cove as the fourth Aleutian community with access to the Anchorage-based telecommunications company’s 2.5 gig consumer internet speed connection. Many Akutan residents also use satellite-based internet services like Starlink. Now community members will have access to a fast mobile connection in addition to those residential and satellite connections.
GCI Rural Affairs Director Jenifer Nelson said in a press release, “When we talk about the importance of closing the digital divide and how transformative these technologies can be, communities like Akutan are exactly what we have in mind.”
Planning for the first phase of the Aleutians Fiber Project, a $100 million project partially funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development’s ReConnect Program, started in 2017. Unalaska was the first community to come online at the end of 2022. Construction in Akutan started in November. Chignik Bay and Larsen Bay are next in line to be connected.
Construction has started in Ouzinkie and Port Lions as part of the project’s second phase. Chignik Lagoon, Chignik Lake, Cold Bay and False Pass are also slated for high-speed internet in the second phase.