Alaska Communications Contracts with Quintillion to Secure Fiber Optic Access for Northwest Alaska
March 08 2017 - 8:55AM
Business Wire
Deal Opens Competitive, Reliable, High-Speed
Broadband Access to Education, Health Care, Native Corporations,
Government Sectors and More
Native corporations, government agencies, health care clinics
and schools in Northwest Alaska will have access to competitive,
high-speed, reliable broadband and managed IT services for the
first time, thanks to a new agreement between Alaska Communications
(NASDAQ: ALSK) and Quintillion. Powered by Quintillion’s new
submarine fiber optic cable, Alaska Communications will bring new
services to Utqiaġvik (formerly known as Barrow), Nome, Kotzebue,
Point Hope and Wainwright, some of Alaska’s northernmost
communities.
Quintillion’s network will enable commercially available,
high-speed connectivity where only high-cost microwave and
satellite communications have been available from one provider. The
new fiber network will bring high-speed fiber optic access, on a
substantially more affordable basis, to these communities.
When the network is active later in 2017, Alaska Communications,
the state’s leading broadband and managed IT services provider,
will be a reseller to select telecom carriers in addition to
serving business customers with its expanded network. Also as part
of the agreement, Quintillion will purchase capacity services for
its newly constructed terrestrial system to the oil fields of the
North Slope on Alaska Communications’ fiber optic network from
Fairbanks to the Lower 48.
Alaska Communications and Quintillion first partnered in April
2015, acquiring a fiber optic network from ConocoPhillips in the
portion of Alaska’s North Slope oil patch where most new oil and
gas development is occurring. The new deal allows Alaska
Communications to connect the original fiber to its existing
network via Quintillion’s new terrestrial network, providing
redundancy and expanding broadband and managed IT services
offerings to more of Alaska’s oil and gas companies on the North
Slope.
“Securing this competitive and high-quality fiber connection to
our North Slope assets significantly improves our opportunities to
serve the health care, education, and public safety sectors in
these communities, while preparing us to better serve the needs of
the energy sector and Arctic development,” Alaska Communications
President and CEO Anand Vadapalli said. “We look forward to serving
more organizations with secure, reliable and competitive data
services, including broadband and managed IT services. We’re
pleased to collaborate with Quintillion to bring broadband access
to underserved areas and help move our state forward.”
“The Arctic is a developing frontier and currently lacks
essential infrastructure such as broadband,” Elizabeth Pierce,
Quintillion CEO, said. “The cost of service is very high. The
quality of service is very poor and economic development, health
care and education are being impeded. Quintillion is building a
fiber optic cable system that will allow providers to offer lower
cost and better quality service.”
Alaska Communications will make this new network available to
business customers and other telecom carriers, increasing
competition and the variety of new product and service offerings.
The company will work with local exchange carriers in each
community that can bring broadband to homes and businesses.
About Alaska Communications
Alaska Communications (NASDAQ: ALSK) is the leading provider of
advanced broadband and managed IT services for businesses and
consumers in Alaska. The company operates a highly reliable,
advanced statewide data network with the latest technology and the
most diverse undersea fiber optic system connecting Alaska to the
contiguous U.S. For more information, visit
www.alaskacommunications.com or www.alsk.com.
About Quintillion
Headquartered in Anchorage, Quintillion is bringing lower-cost,
high-speed broadband service options to rural Alaska on a wholesale
basis. Quintillion, together with its partners, is changing
Alaska’s middle mile capabilities with the construction of new
fiber optic cable systems including subsea fiber optic cable from
Prudhoe to Nome with additional connections into Barrow,
Wainwright, Point Hope, and Kotzebue, and terrestrial cable from
Fairbanks to the oil and gas industry at Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay. The
Alaska portion of the Quintillion Subsea Cable System is the first
phase of a planned multi-phase international subsea cable system
that when completes is planned to connect Europe to Asia along the
Lower Northwest Passage, providing a diverse and shorter route
between the two continents. For more information, please visit
www.Qexpressnet.com.
View source
version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170308005142/en/
Alaska CommunicationsHeather Cavanaugh, 907-564-7722Hannah
Blankenship, 907-564-1326orQuintillionTim Woolston,
907-317-9454twoolston@akmediastrat.com
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