Gigabit broadband coming to Alaska

ANCHORAGE, USA: GCI announced plans to deploy Alaska's first one-gigabit (1,000 megabits-per-second) Internet service, fiber re:D, which will be available in Anchorage by 2015.

"Last January, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a national challenge to make gigabit Internet service speeds available in every state by 2015. GCI will meet that challenge by deploying one gigabit service in Anchorage by 2015," said Ron Duncan, GCI president and CEO.

"This announcement is another example of GCI's continuing commitment to provide Alaskans the latest in communications technology. We were the first Alaska carrier to provide single-hop satellite long distance calling, the first to provide high-speed Internet service, the first to construct redundant high capacity fiber cable networks between Alaska and the lower 48, and the first to provide terrestrial broadband service in rural Alaska.

"Since our founding, GCI has invested well in excess of $2 billion in Alaska's communications infrastructure, and we continue to lead the market in technological innovation. We're focused on 'what's next?' to benefit Alaskans.

"As part of the move to a gigabit in Anchorage, we will also substantially enhance our existing premier re:D broadband service in Anchorage. Fifty megabits per second (Mbps) is no longer sufficient to meet the needs of Alaskans who depend on the Internet for bandwidth-intensive innovative services. Therefore, as of today, we're doubling our re:D download speeds to 100 Mbps and reducing the price of re:D by 12.5 percent. This is the first of a series of free re:D speed increases."