New Project to Make Broadband in Southwest More Affordable

Called "Terra Southwest"

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By CBS 11 News
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Story Created: Jan 13, 2012 at 1:24 PM AKDT

Story Updated: Jan 13, 2012 at 1:24 PM AKDT

Broadband service in Southwest Alaska could be more affordable. A project called "Terra Southwest" aims to provide service to more than 9,000 households and organizations from Anchorage to 65 remote communities in Bristol Bay and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

Tina Pidgeon, GCI's general counsel and Supervisor of Governmental Affairs, said, "So Terra Southwest is two things: It expands the existing microwave network, and takes all that traffic off satellite and puts it on the ground, and likewise it completes the connectivity terrestrially back to Anchorage so that all the broadband is off-satellite, which creates much more opportunities for advanced application and the kinds of things that people are using broadband networks for all across the world."

"This project was funded as part of the stimulus act that was passed by the congress in 2009," said Jim Nordlund, Alaska's State Director for USDA Rural Development, "and it represents President Obama's commitment to bring broadband into rural parts of the country."

GCI says its customers in the Bethel and Dillingham area may experience brief outages as it tests out the network.

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James said on Friday, Feb 17 at 1:27 AM

Is the broadband her yet? My computer seems to be little faster than usual

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