Regardless of Whether, the FCC's Check on Arctic Fiber
The FCC cleared GCI's Arctic fiber deal partly by citing Starlink, a rival the record can't agree sells wholesale middle mile in Alaska.
The deck
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The story
The line is 1,176 miles of subsea fiber from Prudhoe Bay to Nome.
The check is a hedge. The FCC found nothing to suggest Starlink couldn't sell wholesale service "regardless of whether" it does today.
Sea ice cut the line near Oliktok Point in January 2025. The outage ran seven to nine months by differing accounts.
The real check is on paper. Contracts over $5,000 a month per circuit go to the FCC under seal.
Pictured are the route, ACS's objection, the 2025 cut and GCI's conditions. The line ends at Prudhoe Bay, where a gas plant is pitched for AI data centers the order never mentions.
GCI's wholesale filings end seven years after closing. Will Starlink sell wholesale middle mile on that coast by then?
What we verified
52 CLAIMS, EACH RE-FETCHED FROM ITS SOURCE BEFORE THIS DECK SHIPPED
The FCC approved, with conditions, the transfer of control of Quintillion's submarine cable landing license to GCI.
The FCC released the order on October 20th.
The FCC denied the petition to deny filed by Alaska Communications (ACS).
The Quintillion System connects Prudhoe Bay, Barrow, Wainwright, Point Hope, Kotzebue and Nome.
The Quintillion System is 1,176 miles long.
The Quintillion System has three fiber pairs.
The Quintillion System has six cable landing station sites.
Each Quintillion fiber pair has an initial design capacity of 10 Tbps.
On April 1st the FCC granted a modification of Quintillion's license for the Nome to Homer Express extension.
The NTHE extension runs from Nome to three new landing points at Emmonak, Hooper Bay and Naknek.
GCI agreed to acquire Quintillion's parent at a $310 million enterprise value.
GCI will reimburse up to $50 million of qualifying capital spending on Quintillion's NTHE project.
Additional earnout payments may be owed in 2028, 2029 and 2031 if certain financial metrics are met.
Quintillion Subsea will continue to own all segments of the Quintillion System after the deal.
ACS argued that "GCI and Quintillion currently are the only providers of middle mile transport for substantial portions of Western and Northern Alaska, respectively."
ACS maintains that the Universal Service Fund will bear the cost of GCI monopoly pricing.
The FCC said competitive concerns are largely mitigated by lower marginal cost, the end of double marginalization and the growing presence of LEO satellite providers, particularly Starlink.
The FCC acknowledged disagreement in the record over whether Starlink is currently providing wholesale middle mile transport service in Alaska.
The FCC found nothing in the record to suggest that Starlink or another LEO provider could not provide wholesale middle mile service, regardless of whether Starlink provides it today.
Starlink began offering service in Alaska in November 2022, according to the FCC.
During Quintillion's 2025 outage, GCI moved traffic to its microwave system and was forced to drastically limit speeds, according to the applicants.
The applicants described Quintillion's 2025 outage as lasting seven-plus months.
The applicants say the deal will enable an upgrade of the Quintillion-GCI network gateways to 100 Gbps from 10 Gbps.
As a condition, GCI must honor and extend any Quintillion contract in effect at closing for the life of the system, at the counterparty's choice.
Existing Quintillion wholesale customers may order new services at their rural pricing to Nome to Homer Express locations once those are available.
GCI may adjust contract prices for inflation only if 12-month inflation exceeded 5 percent on the Anchorage consumer price index for all urban consumers.
Any inflation adjustment can apply no earlier than three years after closing.
GCI may apply no more than one inflation adjustment per year.
GCI must give the FCC copies of covered contracts whose monthly recurring charge exceeds $5,000 per circuit.
The disclosure duty also covers contracts whose monthly recurring charge exceeds $10,000 in the aggregate.
The contract disclosure duty lasts seven years after closing for wholesale contracts.
The contract disclosure duty lasts five years for all other contracts.
All contract documentation goes to the FCC under seal on a confidential basis.
The Quintillion Rural Network is planned to have points of presence in 13 communities.
The order names 10 GCI Overlapping Communities, served or to be served by both GCI and Quintillion.
Petitions for reconsideration of the order may be filed within thirty days of its release.
The text of the FCC order does not mention artificial intelligence or data centers.
GCI said in June it would use Starlink's dedicated service with bonded gateways to strengthen network resiliency.
FEC records show Peter Corsell gave $7,000 to the joint fundraising committee Sullivan Victory on May 1st.
FEC records show the two $3,500 entries from Corsell to Alaskans for Dan Sullivan on May 1st are marked as transfer memos.
FEC records list Corsell's employer on the Sullivan contributions as Twenty First Century Utilities.
FEC records show Charles Hu gave $7,000 to Sullivan Victory on April 24th, itemized as two $3,500 transfer memos to Alaskans for Dan Sullivan.
GCI called the FCC approval "an important step to completing the transaction," Broadband Breakfast reported.
Quintillion's cable near Oliktok Point was severed by sea ice in January 2025, Broadband Breakfast reported.
COMPUTE THREAD. The North Slope Borough is planning a natural gas power plant near Prudhoe Bay with private partners.
COMPUTE THREAD. North Slope Power's proponents describe a 3 gigawatt first phase for the Prudhoe Bay gas plant.
COMPUTE THREAD. North Slope Power describes the plant as designed to power colocated AI data centers and industrial load.
COMPUTE THREAD. Proponents say the North Slope plant could later be expanded to 10 gigawatts.
COMPUTE THREAD. The North Slope Borough and Twenty First Century Utilities partnered to create North Slope Power.
COMPUTE THREAD. The Air Force announced in April that it would open military bases in Alaska to data center developers, The Alaska Current reported.
The Alaska Current reported that Peter Corsell contributed $14,000 in support of Sen. Dan Sullivan's reelection.
The Alaska Current reported that Saige managing partner Charles Hu donated $14,000 to Sullivan's candidate and joint fundraising committees.
Beats
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