Four Tribal Communities in Alaska Ready To Come Out Of Connectivity Freeze

Aerial view from Pillar Mountain of Kodiak Alaska harbor surrounded by moutains

If the cloud of uncertainty suddenly hovering over federal broadband funding programs is lifted, four Tribal communities in Alaska can fully celebrate the announcement last week that state-of-the-art fiber connectivity will soon arrive at their homes on Kodiak Island just off the south coast of Alaska.

On January 16, Old Harbor Native Corporation secured a portion of $162 million in grants in the second round of funding from the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) administered by NTIA.

Old Harbor Native Corporation will undertake the project, named Project Nunapet for an Alutiiq word meaning “our lands,” in partnership with Alaska Communications.

According to a recent press announcement, a 155-mile subsea cable originating at Alaska Communications’ fiber landing station in Homer will cross the Shelikof Strait to reach Kodiak Island in Ouzinkie before circling the eastern coast of the island with stops in Narrow Cape, Old Harbor, and Akhiok. Project Nunapet will also bring fiber-to-the-home connectivity to Old Harbor, Chiniak, Akhiok, and Womens Bay.

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Alaska Kodiak Island map

The two corporations hope that the infrastructure will serve as a foundation for future network expansion in the area.

Old Harbor Native Corporation leadership says the project will help ensure the community’s continued wellbeing, especially in the face of demographic and economic challenges, by supporting the needs of Elders and encouraging young people to remain on the Island.

As the press announcement notes, establishing modern broadband on Kodiak Island is an important part of cultural and community preservation and is vital infrastructure to help ensure “traditional Alutiiq culture and language [continue] to thrive.”

Kristina Woolsten, CEO of Old Harbor Native Corporation, told ILSR that as “a remote island accessible only by air or boat, the development of fiber to our community cannot be overstated.”

“Health, safety, education, transportation and economic development, to name a few, are all reliant on true broadband,” she said.

The Long Road to Broadband Connectivity on Kodiak Island

Old Harbor Native Corporation has worked to bring better connectivity to Kodiak Island communities for over a decade. In 2012, Old Harbor Native Corporation established Kodiak Microwave Systems, in which the Ouzinkie Native Corporation is a minority owner, to bring wireless backhaul to communities on the Island.

Old Harbor Native Corporation invested its own resources in getting the company up and running, before eventually obtaining financing through the National Cooperative Bank.

Over the years, KMS has brought wireless backhaul service to parts of the villages of Old Harbor, Port Lions, Ouzinkie, Larsen Bay, and Ahkiok on the Island as well as two villages on the Kenai Peninsula, Port Graham and Nanwalek.

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Two young Indigenous women in full regalia play the drums at night

The KMS system creates access to an Internet connection for telehealth, remote learning, and emergency services. However, KMS has not been able to solve Kodiak Island residents’ household-level connectivity needs. Nor has any other company, including Alaska Communications and GCI, Alaska’s two largest telecoms.

According to Census data, more than 13,000 people call the Kodiak Island region home, with about 5,000 living in the city of Kodiak. While the national broadband map shows that significant portions of Kodiak city and its environs can access broadband Internet with speeds of at least 100/20 Megabits per second (Mbps), the four villages slated for deployment under Old Harbor Native Corporation’s new project have zero percent coverage at those speeds by licensed fixed wireless or wireline providers.

Project Nunapek anticipates reaching nearly six hundred households across these communities with its new fiber network, going a long way to close the digital divide in those communities.

The project also makes provisions to ensure residents will be able to afford service once the network is complete, with Alaska Communications pledging to offer rates matching those available in urban areas. According to the company’s website, that price is estimated at around $85/month for 250 Mbps service.

OHNC’s Work Joins Other Impactful Tribal Broadband Connectivity Projects Underway

Project Nunapet is among the most recent projects recommended for award in the second round of the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) program.

As of late January, more than $450 million in recommended awards for infrastructure development and “use and adoption” activities have been announced, out of approximately $1 billion available.

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Water survival training in Women's Bay, Kodiak Alaska. Two Coast Guard boats in harbor, mountains in background

Like the first round of TBCP, this round was significantly oversubscribed, with NTIA fielding 160 applications totalling $2.64 billion in requested grant funding, evidence of a burgeoning commitment among Tribal nations to pursue long-term solutions for Internet connectivity in their communities.

ILSR research indicates that there are nearly 80 Tribally-owned broadband networks in operation, with nearly 50 in various stages of pre-construction. (Reached for comment by ILSR, Old Harbor Native Corporation did not immediately confirm the ownership structure of this partnership).

The enthusiasm for bringing better connectivity to Indigenous communities can be seen first hand through in the Tribal Broadband Bootcamps, which ILSR helps organize. Since 2021, over 400 unique attendees representing 74 Tribes and Native entities have joined together at the bootcamps aimed at demystifying the infrastructure of broadband and building capacity alongside one another.

Given the cost of building to remote or rural areas, a difficulty exacerbated by especially costly or absent middle mile connections, the funding provided by TBCP has been instrumental in advancing these community-driven solutions. NTIA reports that TBCP-funded infrastructure is completed or underway in 27 Tribal communities.

One such network, owned by the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, recently lit up its service in Ignacio, Colorado, increasing available speeds and lowering prices for residents.

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A gravel path winds along next to water's edge

Meanwhile, the most recent round of TBCP funding will turbocharge Old Harbor Native Corporation’s long-standing efforts to bring reliable, high-speed Internet to communities on Kodiak Island.

Fiber deployment in Alaska is especially expensive, and TBCP has been a lifeline to Native entities like Old Harbor Native Corporation. Nearly $400 million was allocated to Alaska-based entities for infrastructure in the first round of funding alone, with another $60 million in grants for broadband planning or use and adoption activities in the state.

Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, the State’s Republican senators, have been big supporters of the TBCP’s investments in Alaska Native communities.

With this latest announcement, Murkowski noted that “Alaskans continue to see new benefits borne by the bipartisan infrastructure law.”

Sullivan lauded the deployment of the “significant federal infrastructure dollars we secured” and celebrated OHNC’s efforts to “break down the digital divide.”

Grant recipients like Old Harbor Native Corporation are facing new uncertainty today, after a January 27th memo from the Trump administration required a freeze to all federal grant and loan programs.

The relevance of this order to TBCP (and its legality) are unclear, given the program is funded by federal law. However, Tribal grant recipients will likely be looking to their strong supporters in Congress, like Murkowski and Sullivan, to bring much-needed clarity to the situation.

Header image of aerial view of Kodiak, Alaska from Pillar Mountain courtesy of naql on Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

Inline image of Drummers from the Nuniaq Alutiiq dance group in Old Harbor courtesy of Chris Pike, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic

Inline image of Coast Guard water survival training in Women's Bay, Kodiak, Alaska courtesy of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command on Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic

Inline image of seaside path in Chiniak courtesy of naql on Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic