Alaska

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is partnering with rural cooperatives, local organizations and Tribes to support high-speed internet deployment in 11 states. USDA is awarding $5.2 million in cooperative agreements through the Broadband Technical Assistance Program, which is funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has accepted Alaska’s Digital Equity plan. The Digital Equity Act, part of the Internet for All initiative and a key piece of President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda, provides $2.75 billion to establish three grant programs that promote digital equity and inclusion. The program aims to ensure that all people and communities have the skills, technology, and capacity needed to reap the full benefits of our digital economy.

Alaska Communications said it plans to follow a 2023 investment of $65 million with $40 million in 2024 in an effort to bring broadband to residents and businesses in the state. While some other broadband providers use fiber broadband for any new deployments, Alaska Communications uses a mixture of fiber-fed copper, fixed wireless and fiber broadband—an approach driven by the state’s unique terrain and population density. During the past two years, the company has deployed fiber to about 10,000 homes in Fairbanks and Anchorage and to a multi-dwelling unit in downtown Juneau.

The Federal Communications Commission kicked off a rulemaking to explore how the universal service high-cost support program can continue funding fixed and mobile broadband services in Alaska—one of the hardest-to-serve areas in the country. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeks comment on a number of issues to help the FCC determine the most effective methodologies and uses for future universal service funding for high-cost fixed and mobile services in Alaska.

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has awarded 28 grants totaling $74,424,986.73 to 28 Tribal entities as part of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP). Grants were made to tribes in Alaska, Arizona, California, Michigan, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC) was awarded a $35 million grant to install affordable, reliable high-speed fiber broadband in the three underserved TCC village communities of Venetie, Chalkyitsik, and Circle (AK). The project is part of the Alaska FiberOptic Project, which is a larger collaboration between Calista Corporation; Doyon, Limited; Gana-A ‘Yoo Limited; Tanana Chiefs Conference; and Alaska Communications to connect more than 20 communities in the Yukon and Kuskokwim regions, beginning in Fairbanks and extending to the