Unalaska, AK – More federal stimulus money is being directed to Alaska's internet infrastructure. The Connect Alaska initiative, a non-profit organization, has received $4.5 million in funding for the purpose of expanding broadband internet access in remote communities across the state.

So far, Connect Alaska has been working to identify underserved areas and has been creating a map of the state that pinpoints what kinds of communication services are available in a given town. Now, the length of their project is being expanded from two years to five years, and they'll be working with state and local governments - along with the private sector - to get rural communities online.
Jessica Ditto is a spokesperson for Connect Alaska, and she explains how this funding might help Unalaska.

"What this award signals is that through the regional planning effort and through the ramping up of the Connect Alaska initiative, communities such as yours can reach out to us and express the need to bring targeted focus to that area," says Ditto. "So it's going to establish a framework for planning at the local level."
Ditto says that expanding broadband - like expanding most infrastructure - is tough in Alaska. She adds that serving an island community like Unalaska can be particularly difficult.

"Like any rural area, getting broadband to an island community can have greater challenges just because of the infrastructure that it takes to get to the community," says Ditto. "Certainly meeting the certain challenges of availability and accessibility of high-speed internet to an island community is one of the first things we seek to address when we are working within the state."