AU-ALEUTIANS FIBER PROJECT

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.

Akutan, a town along the Aleutian Chain with around 100 year-round residents, is now connected to 5G wireless service as part of the GCI Aleutians Fiber Project.

The small Aleutian village of Akutan is now connected to GCI’s high-speed fiber internet.Akutan residents now have access to 2.5 gig internet speeds, according to a Tuesday press release from GCI. That’s the fastest internet the Alaska-based telecommunications company currently offers. The company is working to bump that cap up to 10 gigs in the next few years through its Fiber+ network, which is an initiative to continue to provide competitive internet speeds across Alaska.

Chignik Bay on the Alaska Peninsula is the latest community to join GCI’s Aleutians fiber optic cable project. The telecommunications company said crews started digging trenches in Chignik Bay around the beginning of April, and GCI expects households to be able to log into broadband internet sometime this summer.

Akutan, located in the middle of the Aleutian chain, is slated to receive a fiber-optic internet connection this summer through the GCI Aleutians Fiber Project.

Akutan is set to be the next Aleutian community to get hooked up to fiber-optic broadband internet. The Alaska-based telecommunications company GCI said in a Wednesday statement they expect to finish laying cable around the island community by the end of the month.

On Nov. 8, crews for the telecommunications company began working on the cable landing station that will connect Akutan to high-speed internet.

Alaska-based internet provider GCI is entering the next phase of their subsea fiber optic cable project.

The telecommunications company said their crews were finishing construction in King Cove and Sand Point, the two largest communities in the Aleutians East Borough.

Unalaska now has the fastest cell service in rural Alaska. That’s according to telecommunications company GCI, which turned up the high speed service on the island Tuesday, making it the state’s first rural community with a 5G connection.