Breaking: Quintillion fiber optic cable is broken again on North Slope and Northwest Alaska

By
Suzanne Downing
-
33

Quintillion, which operates fiber optic cable service to many coastal communities, says the cable has broken again. This will create weak to no internet for some customers on the North Slope and Northwest Alaska. The break became known on Saturday morning.

It’s the second break for the company in one year and the third break in 18 months. The cable suffers from harsh conditions on the seafloor, where it can be broken by moving ice, although the current cause of the outage is not yet known. The company believes it is in the Beaufort Sea somewhere. Winter is going to make it impossible to affect a speedy fix, as repair ships cannot get through the solid sea ice on the surface. The last time the cable broke, it could not be repaired until late summer.

“Early Saturday morning, Quintillion became aware of a network outage affecting North Slope and Northwest Alaska communities. Our team immediately began assessing the situation and have determined via initial testing that there was a subsea fiber cut in the Beaufort Sea, said Mac McHale, Quintillion president. “Winter conditions – including sea ice and darkness – have made it impossible to pinpoint an exact location of the cut and the extent of the cable damage. Unfortunately, the outage will be prolonged, and sea ice will prevent a repair crew and vessel from entering the area and completing a subsea repair until late summer.

Another break in the Quintillion fiber optic line leaves North Slope communities with weak internet

While conducting the assessment, Quintillion is assessing the damage and working with local service providers and communities to have some kind of service for critical infrastructure users, such as health care and public safety, while trying to devise a longer term repair.

“Given the importance of high-speed internet service to North Slope and Northwest communities, as well as U.S. national defense, Quintillion is aggressively exploring options to expedite an alternative solution. This includes building a ‘land bridge’ or terrestrial route from Utqiaġvik to Deadhorse to create a self-healing network ring. The good news is that Quintillion had previously invested millions of dollars to acquire the cable needed for such a route and has this hardware on hand in Fairbanks,” McHale said.

Cell service out in northern part of Alaska due to subsea fiber break

However, a quicker fix via a land bridge will require significant assistance from the federal government, he noted.

“Quintillion and Alaskan stakeholders have long understood the need for a resilient and redundant system that can withstand acts of Mother Nature. This need is expressly why Quintillion began working with ICAS more than a year ago to obtain a FEMA BRIC grant, a program designed to help Tribes and communities ‘reduce their hazard risk.’ ICAS filed our joint application last March, and despite positive signals from FEMA, valuable time has been lost as we await an official decision and notification,” McHale explained.

Working closely with our community partners and the Alaska Congressional Delegation, Quintillion will press for urgent support from FEMA and pursue the necessary Bureau of Land Management permits needed for construction of the new terrestrial route.

“To expedite a repair, we will need the full force and support of the incoming Trump Administration, including cutting federal government red tape and eliminating bureaucratic obstacles that will stand between Quintillion and system restoration. The time for federal agencies to act is now,” Quintillion said.

The over-land project would take months to complete, assuming full government cooperation, Quintillion said.

“Quintillion had previously purchased millions of dollars of cable for the project, and our work to move forward with this solution is already underway,” the company said.

Quintillion wins $89 million federal grant to extend fiber optic cable
Quintillion provides update on repairs to Arctic undersea fiber optic cable

33 COMMENTS

  3. This whole deal is nothing g but corruption! Senators that did t announce their involvement and Star could have been the provider and no cost to Americans !

  4. Can anyone say, “CCP”? … even though we can’t prove it yet, I’m almost sure they’re responsible … LOL!

  5. Why Quintillion and not Starlink. Was this unreliable cable a result of Murkowski’s nudge where her decision was based on her personal campaign war chest enrichment?

    • I was wondering, maybe try asking AT& T and their satellites for a change, as in no more disruptions, better apps and data programs for sale, their playstore outdoes all the rest, hundreds of apps to choose from in their playstore app, the best news stations available, entertainment to follow that up, you can’t go wrong at 30$ a month data all month, free phone and texting also, go for it, call them.

  6. One must observe that quintillion ripped off everyone to lay their cable to start with, and now they are seeking federal help – I smell another billion-dollar fleecing. Why is this cable so poorly designed that it keeps breaking? Or is this sabotage like Nordstream? Who stands to gain from this? Why is critical communication cut from North Slope Natives who want oil development and from oil companies using the cable to make their operations more efficient?
    Abandon this cable and this company. I would much rather see another flock of low-earth-orbit satellites performing the same or better service.

  8. Common Sense Solution …
    We have a perfectly good right of way (ROW) from Valdez to Deadhorse. If the desire is to provide service to North Slope communities, Ditch Witch West provides premium Trenchers that could trench between these remote communities in the winter months, laying the fiber optic lines, keeping it onshore and away from potential danger of sabotage from the Ruskies or Chineez.

  9. That this cable even exists is absolute travesty, and a monument to political corruption, graft, kickbacks, and under the table payments.
    Everyone that wants internet, could have it via Starlink for a tiny fraction of the cost, and NO cable breaks….

  10. Hmmm, we have a new President.

    Lets hope that he cleans up the FBI and does a deep dive on Senator Lyman Hoffman, Representative Bryce Edgmon, Native Corporations and the theft of the people’s PFD.

    Starlink is $90 a month, doesn’t fill pockets in Rural Legislators or their Corporations.. or Family members pockets….

    $125 Million from the PFD last year and Hoffman’s getting paid to sit on the Board and give a 2% signing bonus to the CEO, another family member… But you need to look at the original $45 million contract, plus all the rest the corp gathered in from the local tribals…

    Don’t know about you, but 2% of something in the neighborhood of a $100 million for broadband contracts steered by a couple legislators sounds pretty sweet to me… for sitting on my as$ and drinking coffee…

    Where the hell is the FBI, because there’s a lot more questions too be answered out here???

  11. Didn’t FEMA announce recently they are broke? And as important as internet is to communication, the families left without homes after Hurricane Helene and CA homeowners decimated by the recent fires are STILL waiting for FEMA assistance. A better plan would be the get Starlink to the North Slope instead.

  12. There’s a reason why other Alaska telecom providers did not bury fiber beneath the Arctic Ocean. Most of those engineers knew exactly what happens with ice scour, ice crushing and other forces until you reach deep enough water. When you visit Utqiagvik (or Barrow as it was called when my dad was there), you’ll see pressure ridges near the shore that are 20 or 50 feet high or more. What you see above ground is mirrored below. Ice doesn’t care what the bottom of the ocean is made from, it will still crush and rip at it – and anything buried in it.

    What is insidious here is that Quintillion will ask the federal government to fund and expedite permits to run over-the-ground fiber from Utqiagvik to Prudhoe Bay. Translation: you, dear taxpayers, are going to pay for Quintillion’s Arctic ice gamble.

  13. Quintillion is the number of dollars they hope to gouge out of the government to keep their connection going up there

    • As I surmised earlier, the CCP or the Russian Oligarchs, are responsible for this break. If not, then Quintillion needs to show that they can get this break fixed and communications back on track without any help from the U.S., and press forward.

    • Not China or Russia. That fiber is under three or more feet of ice. In shallow water. No surface vessel can get to that place, then open a hole in the ice, send a crew to the bottom, plow up 10 feet of bottom soil to get at the buried fiber. The very sight of a vessel like that would bring a lot of attention.

  16. For profit companies that cannot provide services, without the taxpayers paying for the infrastructure, so that the companies can charge them for services are not viable companies. This company embarked on this mission under a lie about it’s economic feasibility and it appears it remains to be that way. I don’t think the taxpayers should be paying so private companies can profit.

  18. Nothing is safe on the sea floor as long as Joe Biden was in charge.
    Nordstream pipline is a fine example of his ability to destroy Germany’s energy source.

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