fiber optic

The City of Unalaska selected GCI as its internet provider for the next five years. City administration said they recommended the telecommunications company because they offered increased bandwidth and backup service options.

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

OptimERA has paired with a SpaceX subsidiary for faster internet speeds.

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.

The Unalaska City Council will weigh the city’s internet service provider options at its meeting Tuesday night, after unanimously deciding to postpone the discussion earlier this month.

Aleutians internet service provider OptimERA significantly lowered its prices for internet in Unalaska earlier this month. That’s following the arrival of high-speed broadband to the island last fall.

GCI is starting to install fiber internet infrastructure in King Cove and Sand Point this week.

Unalaska is officially connected to high speed fiber internet, but not everyone on the island has access to the new service.GCI connected its first customers in December, and now, Rural Affairs Director Jenifer Nelson said around 200 homes in the community of about 4,500 year-round residents are turned on and either actively using the fiber broadband or ready to start service.

Nearly 2,000 tons of subsea fiber has begun the journey from Europe to Alaska and its eventual home on the ocean floor along the Aleutian Chain. The fiber — which is the foundation of GCI’s 800-mile Aleutians Fiber Project — would close the digital divide and bring high speed internet to homes in some of the most remote communities in the nation, including Unalaska.

GCI crews began construction in Unalaska Tuesday in preparation to bring fiber optic broadband to the island.