Long-distance service in Alaska: providers offer telecommunication packages to businesses that are competitive and tailored to each company.

• Author: Colby, Kent L.

Not to overstate the obvious, but we live in a big state. It is a remarkably long distance to and from just about everywhere in Alaska. In state, out of state, out of country. It's a long distance.

That is especially so when making a phone call. And, nowadays, long-distance service is not simply about talking. The concept of long-distance service includes data, high-speed data via frame relay, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), virtual private networks (VPN), video, as well as audio service, private-line networks and incoming toll-free (formerly known as 800) service, just to name a few.

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

In Alaska, one company pioneered long-distance service. And now lots of companies are selling it. Discussing long-distance telecommunications in Alaska first requires a little history about Alascom, the original interstate and international common carrier in the state. Alascom started out as the Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System back in 1900. The congressional act establishing WAMCATS contained a provision leading to the eventual building of a civilian system. The first year, service was from Nome military headquarters to the Port Safety outpost. All of 25 miles.

In 1903, the Norton Sound radio link became the world's first permanent radio-telegraph link for public communications.

The law had a little bit to do with WAMCATS' growth. San Francisco and Washington military headquarters were connected, by telegraph, to Alaska outposts to support law-enforcement problems linked to the discovery of gold.

Interestingly, the military allowed commercial and non military traffic on the system. In 1936, Congress renamed the company the Alaska Communications System.

Congress, forever holding a stake in the state's communications, passed the Alaska Communications Disposal Act in 1936. ACS was put on the block. RCA won the bid at $28.5 million in cash and poured an additional $30 million into the outdated ACS. About that same time, RCA's long-distance communications debuted, via satellite. Alaska communications was on the map. RCA renamed the company Alascom in 1973 when it purchased the Bartlett Earth Station-one, sole satellite link with the outside world.

It was back in 1979 when pacific Power and Light Company purchased RCA Alascom. In 1982, Alascom launched its own satellite. Aurora I was the only satellite of its kind and the only satellite in the heavens devoted exclusively to a single state. Live television debuted in the...