It hasn’t escaped the federal government’s notice that broadband has gone from being a luxury to a necessity for full participation in our economy and society. Many areas on the Kenai Peninsula don’t have access to internet with speeds that allow for video to flow without stalling and photos to upload without timing out…and for at least 20,000 households, that’s going to change soon.
Alaska Communications has just started the preliminary planning phases of a long term broadband project, and say they are hoping that in the next three years Kenai Peninsula residents will start to see faster speeds.
Funding for the project comes from the Connect America Fund. Expansion of broadband is expected to not only drive economic growth in rural America, but expand the online marketplace nationwide, creating jobs and businesses opportunities across the country. It’s money that the Alaska delegation had to fight hard for when the FCC suggested reforms that would have negatively impacted rural Alaska a few years back.
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| Heather Cavanagh |
Alaska Communications External Affairs Heather Cavanaugh: ” This is a federally funded program, so we all pay a small amount on our local phone or wireless bill, and that is collected by the federal government and then disbursed back to different communities to provide different services. Alaska is benefitting from that program.”
Cavanaugh says that areas already represented by GCI will not qualify for the non-competitive program.
Alaska Communications intends to fiber-feed base towers set about two miles apart. The signal will be transmitted to a receiver mounted on the outside of area buildings. From there the signal will be taken inside through high-speed, cat-5 wires, to a router or modem, and beamed wireless to area users.
Alaska Communications External Affairs Heather Cavanaugh: “We are doing a testing site this fall in Nikiski to prove out the technology we plan to use. The speeds will be a minimum of 10 mega bites, and we are hoping to do much better than that. Our goals are higher.”
http://www.radiokenai.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Dorene-on-New-Broadband-Service-Expected.mp3
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