Chignik Bay, a fishing community on the Alaska Peninsula, now has access to high-speed internet through a fiber optic project stretching across the Aleutian Chain. The remote community of less than 100 permanent residents is the latest to come online as part of GCI’s AU-Aleutians Fiber Project.
GCI Rural Affairs Senior Director Jenifer Nelson said in a press release that high-speed internet can expand access to work, healthcare, education and entertainment in rural Alaska.
“Whether it’s in Chignik Bay or my hometown of King Cove,” Nelson said, “access to fiber optic internet truly is transformative and opens up so many opportunities for Alaskans in rural and remote communities.”
Chignik Bay is the sixth of thirteen communities slated to come online with the fiber project. So far, Unalaska, Sand Point, Larsen Bay, King Cove and Akutan have high-speed internet. Network testing is expected to take place soon in Port Lions and Ouzinkie.
Planning started in 2017 for the first phase of the project. GCI finished laying down 800 miles of subsea cable along the Aleutian Chain in 2022. It’s a $100 million project partially funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Broadband ReConnect Program.
