GCI said in a statement Thursday that two more communities in the Aleutians will be hooked up to fiber optic broadband by the end of the year.
The telecommunications company said their crews were finishing construction in King Cove and Sand Point, the two largest communities in the Aleutians East Borough.
GCI said they expect to finish hooking up homes and businesses by the end of the month, keeping them on track to launch full internet service by the end of the year.
GCI is the largest telecommunications company based in Alaska. Last year, they completed laying 800 miles of underwater fiber optic cable from Kodiak to Unalaska, the first of its kind to reach the Aleutians.
The rural communities in the region have long had slow internet speeds and unreliable connections. But a recent influx of broadband capabilities, such as Elon Musk’s Starlink have brought fast and reliable internet to the island communities.
Unalaska was the first to connect to GCI’s fiber optic network, with the service launching at the end of 2022.
After completing the project in Sand Point and King Cove, GCI said they will focus on Akutan, Chignik Bay, and Larsen Bay.
