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wiredInUSA - June 2015
wiredInUSA - June 2015
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Keeping cable on ice
Marine surveying is due to begin again near
Alaska’s coastal communities in an effort to
improve communications by laying a $700
million fiber optic cable between Europe
and Asia via the Arctic Ocean.
The Alaska Dispatch News reports that
lingering sea ice in Canada’s Northwest
Passage has causeddelays for cable laying
ships.
Anchorage-based Quintillion Holdings is a
partner in a project initiated by Canada’s
Arctic Fibre. Quintillion CEO Elizabeth Pierce
said that developers are using a phased
approach, with work starting on links from
Asia to Nome, and Prudhoe Bay to Europe,
once the Alaska portion of the project is
completed.
Pierce says her company planned to break
ground in May to begin the installation
of around 500 miles of fiber optic cable
from Fairbanks north to Deadhorse, and is
developing a subsea line from the oil field
complex of Prudhoe Bay to come ashore in
Nome, a Western Alaska community.
Themarine survey will help determine cable
routes and necessary protective measures.
Arctic Slope Telephone Association
Cooperative is an investor in Quintillion,
and director of operations Jens Laipenieks
says the satellite or microwave connections
currently in use by rural communities are
costly andprovideonly sporadic coverage.
“A fiber optic connection will never have
issues like snow in the satellite dish or solar
interference, and it is much faster as far
as lower latency technology,” he said.
“Instead of taking 500 or 600 milliseconds, it
will be 20 or 30 milliseconds.”
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