Delivering lightning-fast speeds to the nation’s most remote communities, GCI bridges the digital divide
When you think about lightning-fast internet connectivity, national tech and business hubs like California or New York probably come to mind. But it’s states with roads less traveled that deliver more access to fast internet. According to statistics aggregated by connectivity watchdog BroadbandNow, 75.1% of Alaskans have access to 1 gigabit internet speeds, ranking second in the United States, with the majority of access delivered by Alaska’s largest technology and communications company, GCI.
From Fort Greely, a key military base populated by around 550 residents in Alaska’s soon-to-be frozen interior, to the picturesque panhandle community of Ketchikan along the Inside Passage that around 8,200 people call home, GCI primarily delivers 1 GIG speeds to communities considered rural by most national standards. GCI developed a series of short, quirky videos to better illustrate just how remote Alaska’s 1 GIG communities can be.
“Through the expansion of our 1 GIG internet service, GCI is changing Alaska from ‘The Last Frontier’ to ‘The First Frontier’ for connectivity,” said Vice President of GCI Corporate Communications Heather Handyside. “While our own stats place us even higher in the rankings, it’s incredibly exciting for a company born and raised in Alaska to be an industry leader in delivering cutting-edge connectivity.”
For comparison, according to BroadbandNow, only 21.8% of Floridians and 22.2% of Illinoisans have access to 1 GIG internet speeds.
Through an extensive fiber-optic cable network stretching more than 8,250 miles, GCI is the largest provider of 1 GIG connectivity in Alaska, delivering the service to 16 communities around the state, including: Anchorage, Fairbanks, Ft. Greely, Homer, Juneau, Kenai, Ketchikan, Kodiak, North Pole, Palmer, Wasilla, Petersburg, Seward, Soldotna, Sitka and Wrangell.
“We’re proud to deliver some of the fastest speeds in the nation to incredibly remote Alaska communities—especially when we read about communities near urban areas in the Lower 48 that are still struggling with dial-up speeds,” said Handyside.
For more information about communities with access to 1 GIG internet speeds through GCI, check out this new video series on YouTube.