Bandwidth comes to Alaska.

• Author: Swagel, Will
• Position: Advances in telecommunications

Video conferencing. Distance-delivery of education. Tele-medicine. These are exactly the kind of 21st Century technologies that should be available in Alaska, where great distances and isolation demand intelligent adaptation.

Yet in the world of technological "haves" and "have-nots" Alaska has until now fallen in the "have-not," column when compared to the Lower 48.

But Alaska's position is changing. With the announcement this summer of two major Lower 48-to-Alaska fiber-optic cable projects, Alaska stands poised to take advantage of the latest technologies by the beginning of 1999 - if not sooner.

The State of Alaska Telecommunications and Information Technology' Plan (TIC) drawn up by state officials with input from business and education leaders, calls for the state to encourage a second fiber-optic cable linking Alaska and the Lower 48.

"Alaska has as much or more to gain from advances in telecommunications than any other area of our country," according to the goals statement from the TIC completed last December. "Our vast distances, disparate and sparse population, and severe climate makes the challenges and potential gains greater here than anywhere."

That call is being met and exceeded as the two cable projects will bring not only new connections, but many times the capacity of the old ATT-Alascom Alaska Spur, the only operating fiber route to Alaska thus far.

Within the state a number of other projects are either underway or near completion, linking Fairbanks and Anchorage, Prudhoe Bay and Valdez and points within cities or regions with fiber-optic connections that may ultimately link into one of the two new projects. While the Lower 48-to-Alaska projects tend to get the attention, smaller improvements linking Alaskans with Alaskans will also play a key role in bringing the freshest technology to the state before the Millennium runs out.

The Big Deals

"Bandwidth," states TIC, "refers to the speed at which electronic information can be transmitted. Sometimes that is designated as the 'size' of pipe. Bandwidth is the consistent issue that permeates all telecommunications discussion in Alaska. With enough (bandwidth), all things are possible - without it, many points are moot."

Alaska is presently served by the Alaska Spur, which comes off the North Pacific Cable (NPC) and was laid in 1991. NPC runs 5,200 miles from Pacific City, Oregon to Japan. The Alaska Spur "spurs" 704 miles off that cable to land in Seward, where it follows the railroad bed for a connection in Anchorage.

Stand clear. The numbers describing the coming bandwidth improvements are staggering. GCI Alaska is committing to a $120 million project to string a cable north from Seattle with landfalls at Valdez and Whittier. The...