PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: ACS provides customer-focused, integrated telecommunications throughout Alaska

Alaska Communications Systems’ technology solutions simplify Alaskans’ lives with cutting-edge, integrated services and third-generation wireless network capabilities

Q. When was ACS founded and what was its original name?

A. Since about 1932 we have served Alaskans through the company’s predecessors. ACS came together through a rollup of Alaska firms focused on local telephony, long distance, Internet and wireless, situated in disparate locations, operated under different brands and with different ownership structures. The founding group brought those together in early 1999 under the brand of Alaska Communications Systems and then the company IPO’d on the NASDAQ in late 1999. The company operated with its founding group of managers until October 2003 when the board of directors recruited Liane Pelletier to take ACS to the next development stage.

Q. Where is ACS located?

A. ACS is headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska. Company offices and ACS stores are located throughout Alaska including in Ketchikan, Juneau, Sitka, Kodiak, Valdez, Anchorage, and Fairbanks.

Q. Who heads up the company and who is on its senior management team?

A. Liane Pelletier is chief executive officer, president and chair of the board of directors. Ms. Pelletier joined ACS in September 2003 after spending 17 years at Sprint Corporation, most recently as chief integration officer and member of the executive management committee.

The senior management team includes: David Wilson, senior vice president and chief financial officer; David C. Eisenberg, senior vice president of corporate strategy, development and marketing; Sheldon Fisher, senior vice president of sales; Anand Vadapalli, senior vice president of network and information technology; Leonard Steinberg, vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary; and S. Lynn Erwin, vice president of human resources.

Q. What is the company’s primary business sector and services?

A. ACS is a customer-focused, facilities-based integrated telecommunications provider. It is the only Alaskan provider that owns infrastructure for all four telecommunications product lines: local, long distance, Internet and wireless. Through DISH Network, ACS also offers satellite television.

Q. Who are the company’s main clients?

A. ACS serves the state’s business and residential customers. It has established a strong and enjoyable working relationship with numerous industries and companies within Alaska, including oil and gas.

In 2005, ACS further expanded its CDMA (code division multiple access) wireless voice and data network to the North Slope, offering the first digital telecommunications equipment in the area. The CDMA sites are located in Alpine, Kuparuk and Deadhorse. The sites support CDMA phones on ACS’ network and, in Deadhorse and Kuparuk, ACS provides wireless Mobile Broadband data capabilities at download speeds bursting to 2.4 Mbps. ACS Mobile Broadband subscribers experience high-speed connectivity to the Internet from their portable computers and EV-DO enabled Pocket PCs and handsets.

Q. How many employees does ACS have?

A. As reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in March 2006, ACS employs 1,030 Alaskans, with the majority in Anchorage.

Q. Is your company expanding any of its operations and/ or locations?

A. ACS is constantly investing in and exploring for more opportunities in Alaska. By far, the most comprehensive expansion is the installation of ACS’ multi-million dollar investment of its CDMA wireless voice and data network throughout Alaska. Since May 2004, ACS has established CDMA technology from Ketchikan to Kuparuk, focusing on the most populated areas, its major road and marine corridors, and tourist destinations. CDMA provides the best voice quality, fastest wireless data speeds, greatest security through its coding, and GPS location capabilities. It is the world’s most rapidly expanding wireless network technology, with coverage throughout 70 countries. ?As noted above, ACS has recently expanded wireless data capabilities on the North Slope by enhancing its network to include Mobile Broadband capabilities.

Q. Is ACS changing any of its services?

A. ACS is always enhancing its services and constantly offers new services to meet demand and the growing changes in technology. ?Most recently ACS added Mobile Broadband capabilities to the Slope.? ACS mobile broadband subscribers experience high-speed connectivity to the Internet from their portable computers and EV-DO enabled Pocket PCs and handsets.

Q. What is your company’s main strength? Main competitors?

A. The CDMA wireless technology ACS supports in Alaska is among the best in the nation. There are numerous distinct benefits to ACS’ wireless voice and data network including its ubiquity, quality, and speed. When it comes to speed, Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau were the third, fourth, and fifth markets in the entire country to offer Mobile Broadband wireless data. There are still major cities in the Lower 48 without this capability.

Mobile Broadband data speeds are comparable to DSL and in the more populated areas, including Fairbanks, the Mat-Su Valley, Anchorage, Kenai, Soldotna, Juneau and now the North Slope speeds burst to 2.4 Mbps – nearly six times the next closest competitor with Edge. Our only statewide competitor is Cellular One.

Q. What new markets, clients and/or projects did you attract in the last year?

A. Over the last year, ACS has focused on introducing, enhancing, or expanding its CDMA wireless coverage to new markets, clients and projects throughout Alaska. You can read about ACS’ multi-million dollar investment at www.acsalaska.com or on its investor website at www.alsk.com. Highlights include new CDMA wireless coverage on the North Slope, in Ketchikan, Kodiak, Sitka, Valdez, Glennallen, and Tok, expansions along the Glenn Highway and Parks Highway, and enhancements throughout Fairbanks, Mat-Su, Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula.

ACS is also attracting nationwide news coverage with innovative projects such as ON ACS, which integrates local phone service with wireless and provides free mobile-to-home and home-to-mobile calling. Other innovative projects include what’s called Internet Anyplace, which integrates DSL high-speed Internet with our Mobile Broadband service so business and residential customers can connect to high-speed Internet at work, home, or literally on the road.

Q. What are the biggest obstacles to completing work the company undertakes?

A. With ACS’ rapidly expanding network, perhaps the biggest obstacle encompasses weather-related delays. Many remote sites require helicopter access and consequently, especially as we expand CDMA wireless coverage in Southeast Alaska, we have to wait for appropriate weather.

Q. What do you see as your company’s biggest challenge in the next five years?

A. Perhaps the biggest challenge for ACS will be communicating the importance of a fair, competitive telecommunications marketplace in the state.

Q. What do you see as future trends or opportunities from events such as long-term weather fluctuations, resource development, etc.?

A. We expect the overall demand for telecommunications service in Alaska will grow, particularly as a result of the increasing demand for wireless voice and data services following the launch of our CDMA network, the growth in demand for DSL and Internet access services due to higher business and consumer bandwidth needs, and increasing demands for private network services.

Q. What is the most humorous story from your company’s years in the business in Alaska?

A. The most humorous stories perhaps derive from the construction of cell sites throughout Alaska. They are certainly more humorous in retrospect, but run-ins with bears, moose, snow, rain, and winds can often leave our employees stranded for days in the most remote of areas, waiting for the right time to escape. Alaska animals can impact our customers directly as well – like the time three moose stood in our front courtyard, ripped apart the trees, and prevented many customers from entering or leaving our flagship store on 600 Telephone Avenue.

Q. Do you have an anniversary or other landmark event coming up?

A. Essentially, it was three years ago when Liane Pelletier arrived at ACS and the new senior management team formed. Since then, we have enjoyed rising revenues, cash flow, stock price, and the deployment of a stock dividend, which has also risen during the team’s tenure.

Q. What is the average length of time an employee works for the company? Are you hiring for any positions?

A. ACS employees spend an average of 8.4 years working for the company. ACS is always seeking new team members. Current postings can be found on ACS’ consumer website at www.acsalaska.com.

Q. What is your company’s safety record?

A. Our safety record is strong and ACS emphasizes safety every day, especially before every meeting with a mandated “Safety Minute of the Week” at the onset.

Q. Does ACS or its partners maintain websites?

A. Our consumer website is at www.acsalaska.com, serving customers looking for products and services, and those who would like more information regarding ACS’ charitable involvement in Alaska communities. ACS also hosts an investor website under its stock symbol ALSK at www.alsk.com. The investor site meets corporate governance standards and provides a transparent look into the operational and financial conditions of ACS.