Oil patch bits: ASTAC awarded $30,970,030 USDA ReConnect grant

Petroleum News

Arctic Slope Telephone Association Cooperative Inc. said Sept. 22 that it has been awarded $30,970,030 in funding for a transformational broadband project in remote Alaska. The grant will provide ASTAC with the means to expand its terrestrial network to provide customers in Point Lay and Anaktuvuk Pass with access to high-speed broadband by way of Point Hope and the Dalton Highway.

Funding is being provided through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s rural utilities service ReConnect grant program. Upon completion both projects will allow for high-speed broadband at or above 100 Mbps in each community. Both villages have traditionally been served by satellite bandwidth, which is prohibitively expensive, and has limited capacity and very high latency.

“We are thrilled the USDA has awarded ASTAC the funding to make a broadband transformation in the final two ASTAC service communities,” said ASTAC General Manager/CEO Jens Laipenieks. “At the direction of our Board of Directors, it has been our goal to connect all nine ASTAC markets to high-quality, terrestrially served broadband. Upon completion, Point Lay and Anaktuvuk Pass will follow Utqiaġvik, Point Hope, Wainwright, Nuiqsut, Deadhorse, and Atqasuk as fully fiber-connected communities. This grant will be instrumental in achieving that goal and further closes the digital opportunity gap between remote and urban Alaska.”

ASTAC anticipates the project to begin in 2023, with a projected in-service date of mid-2025. For more information, visit www.astac.net.