Despite challenging terrain and low population density, the 49th state is making big strides when it comes to bridging the digital divide. 

With its enormous size, diverse terrain, and frozen ground, Alaska is a massive logistical nightmare when it comes to delivering broadband to its residents. Much of the state is covered by permafrost, making it nearly impossible to dig a trench for fiber-optic cables and many communities are on islands, such as the Aleutian Chain, or separated by river deltas. Connecting these communities requires miles of subsea fiber-optic cables, which are expensive to install and difficult to repair.

Slow but steady progress

Alaska ranks last in Ookla’s 2H 2025 50 U.S. States Broadband Speed Performance Report that classifies the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia by the percentage of Speedtest users that achieve the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) minimum broadband speeds of 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload speeds. In the second half of 2025 only 47.1% of  Speedtest users in Alaska were able to get 100/20 Mbps speeds. However, the state has made a lot of progress. In the first half of 2024, just 35.4% of Speedtest users were able to get the FCC’s minimum speed threshold. 

Alaska’s urban/rural divide has also changed over time. In the second half of 2024 the state delivered the FCC’s minimum standard for broadband to 38.7% of its urban population and to just 15.8% of its rural population. However, a year later it had increased that to 45.2% of its urban population and 24.9% of its rural population and effectively reduced its digital divide from 22.9 percentage points in the second half of 2024 to 20.4 percentage points in the second half of  2025. 

$1.2B in BEAD funding

Alaska is set to receive approximately $1.2 billion in funding from the federal government’s Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. According to Alaska’s Broadband office, the state has awarded about $629 million for 29 broadband projects. 

That initial award is intended to connect 44,734 underserved or unserved locations across Alaska. Because of the state’s unique geography, Alaska will use a mix of technologies to deliver broadband to those locations. Approximately 24,500 of the funded locations will receive high-speed fiber from 13 different providers including Matanuska Telecom Association, Alaska Communications and GCI Communication. In addition, 14,400 locations will be served with SpaceX’s Starlink low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite service. The remaining 5,800 locations will be reached using fixed wireless and hybrid systems from Alaska Communications, SPITwSPOTs and Bristol Bay Telephone. 

GCI’s commitment to bridging the digital divide

GCI has been provisionally awarded $120 million in funding from the BEAD program to expand high-speed service to 18 communities, including Anchorage, Eagle River, and several remote areas in Western Alaska. GCI has committed to delivering fiber to 3,200 locations in Alaska with its funding. 

Part of GCI’s BEAD funding is going to Alaska Connect, a multi-billion dollar program with a  goal to ensure every Alaskan has access to the FCC’s minimum broadband speeds of 100/20 Mbps. 

GCI plays a key role in Alaska Connect and recently revealed that it has completed Phase 1 of the AIRRAQ Network, a multi-million dollar fiber and microwave network that the company is building in conjunction with the Bethel Native Corporation. The goal is to bring 2.5 Gbps speeds to some of the most remote villages in Alaska. Phase 1 of the program delivers fiber to five communities: Bethel, Platinum, Eek, Napaskiak, and Oscarville. 

To complete Phase 1, engineers had to deploy fiber on frozen tundra and use specialized vehicles to avoid damaging the delicate summer tundra. Engineers also had to deploy large portions of cable along the floor of the Kuskokwim River and the Bering Sea. 

Aleutians Fiber project reaches final phase

Besides the BEAD-funded Alaska Connect project, GCI is in the final stretch of its Aleutians Fiber project — an 800-mile subsea fiber project that was started in 2021. Unlike the AIRRAQ Network, the Aleutian Fiber project is a public-private partnership that gets its funding from a combination of grants and private funding. The grants include a $25 million grant awarded in 2021 from the USDA’s ReConnect Program, more than $70 million in funding from the NTIA’s Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, and $50 million from GCI. 

Aside from fiber and microwave, GCI also is updating its HFC to DOCSIS 4.0 so it can deliver multi-gig speeds to urban centers such as Anchorage and Fairbanks.

GCI isn’t the only broadband provider in Alaska to use its BEAD funding to improve its speeds and footprint. Matanuska Telecom Association (MTA), a telecom cooperative in Alaska that serves over 33,000 members, received $108.6 million in BEAD funding to deliver fiber to 10,000 locations in Alaska. 

In addition, Alaska Communications is committed to delivering fiber to 5,100 locations and fixed wireless access (FWA) to 4,000 sites with its $123.3 million in BEAD funding. 

GCI currently towers over its competitors in both median upload and download speeds and consistently delivers speeds that far surpass the FCC’s minimum requirement for broadband of 100 Mbps download speeds and 20 Mbps upload speeds. According to Ookla Speedtest Intelligence data, GCI’s median download speeds ranged from 378.55 Mbps in March 2025 to 431.98 Mbps in March 2026 and its median upload speeds ranged from 37.13 Mbps in March 2025 to 40.12 Mbps in March 2026.

Starlink fills the gap

Starlink is another broadband contender. According to ConnectedNation’s BEAD tracker, Starlink’s parent company SpaceX is slated to provide broadband service to 14,400 locations where regulators believe satellite will be more effective. 

According to Speedtest data, Starlink increased the percentage of speedtest users in Alaska that are able to get the FCC’s minimum broadband speeds of 100/20 Mbps from 4.35% in the first half of  2025 to 15.9% in the second half of 2025. This increase reflects Starlink’s expansion of its satellite constellation and its investment in its network. 

More of Starlink’s rural users are able to get the FCC’s minimum broadband speeds of 100/20 Mbps than its urban users. In the second half of 2025 16.8% of Starlink users in rural Alaska were able to get broadband speeds of 100/20 Mbps compared to just 12.3% of urban users. 

According to Ookla Speedtest Intelligence data, Starlink’s median download speeds rose from 73.5 Mbps in March 2025 to 108.5 Mbps in March 2026, and its median upload speeds ranged from 10.7 Mbps in March 2025 to 17.1 Mbps in March 2026. 

No longer out of reach

Although Alaska still faces the most challenging terrain in the country for delivering broadband connectivity to its residents, the needle is moving.  A combination of BEAD funding, state initiatives, and private investment is beginning to improve the chances for thousands of Alaskans to get broadband connectivity. 

While Alaska remains at the bottom of Ookla’s U.S. state broadband speed rankings as of the 2H of 2025, its numbers are on the rise, proving that remote life doesn’t necessarily mean digital isolation. 

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