Alaska Power & Telephone has begun preparations for a 214-mile fiber optic cable that will run from Juneau down to Coffman Cove. The SEALink submarine cable project will bring faster broadband internet access to communities like Coffman Cove and Kasaan on Prince of Wales Island.
While the project is not expected to affect Wrangell, AP&T Business Development Vice President Jason Custer said Wrangell could be the target of future improvements in the company’s Southeast network.
“It’s a major investment in the region, and we’re glad to see it happen,”he said. “Having broadband is having options.”
Custer said the cable will start at Lena Point, north of downtown Juneau, then run south to Petersburg. The cable will be run overland across Mitkof Island before going back into the water, past Wrangell and down to Coffman Cove.
A 20-day survey of the seafloor in the area has begun to determine the best route for the cable, according to a June 17 announcement by the company.
“It (the survey ship) will basically drive back and forth over the area where we hope to install the submarine cable,”Custer said. “It’s almost like mowing a lawn, they go back and forth in a couple of places to map out the seafloor.”
The SEALink project is funded with $21.5 million from a federal grant to improve rural broadband service and $7 million from AP&T, according to a report by public radio station KRBD in Ketchikan.
Results from the marine floor survey are expected in August. The new cable would be laid in 2023, assuming no delays in permitting or environmental review.
“To help keep to this timeline and make broadband available as soon as possible,”the company already has placed orders for long-lead-time materials, AP&T said.
Custer said the SEALink project would provide new opportunities and growth for Prince of Wales, and the wider Southeast region. The investment is timely, he said, as demand for better broadband has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic led a push toward distance learning and working remotely.
“You’re going from having almost no options to having broadband that you could get almost anywhere in the country, or in a city,”Custer said.
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