The Northwest Arctic Borough School District has entered into a five-year, $64.5 million broadband contract with telecom provider GCI, costing approximately $12.9 million annually.
The district serves 1,928 students in 13 schools plus two sites, which works out to about $6,690 per student per year. The contract holds an additional $10.1 million for non-connectivity services.
The deal, primarily funded through federal (90%) and state school broadband assistance (10%) programs raises concerns about the inflated costs and outdated technology.
Breakdown of the costs under the GCI agreement:
- Five-year total: $64,497,000
- Annual cost: $12,899,400
- Funding:
- 90% from the Federal E-Rate Program ($11,609,460/year)
- 10% from Alaska’s BAG 100 Program ($1,289,940/year)
Competing bids of the district using satellite services would run about $4,000 per month per site, totaling approximately $720,000 per year across all Northwest Arctic Borough School District’s 15 sites, which pencils out to $373 per student per year.
Many school districts have already made the switch to satellite broadband. Considering the school district chose microwave technology for all but three locations, Kotzebue-area students could be using faster, more affordable satellite broadband, and the school district’s 10% share for connectivity would have been $72,000 annually.
The GCI contract charges much higher rates for specific sites, such as:
- Satellite/Starlink-served schools (e.g., Ambler, Kobuk, Shungnak): $54,150/month per site, which is nearly 13 times more expensive.
- Microwave-served schools #1: (e.g., Buckland, Kiana, Kivalina, Noatak, Noorvik, Selawik, Deering): $92,500/month per site via GCI’s proprietary TERRA network, which is 23 times more expensive.
- Microwave-served schools #2: (Kotzebue Area): $65,000/month per site, also using the TERRA Network, which is 16 times more expensive.
The TERRA microwave network is not built for today’s Internet consumption and is being outpaced by low-earth orbit satellites such as Starlink, which offers greater scalability and lower costs. The five-year lock-in of the contract ties the Northwest Arctic School District to technology that is being replaced in a fast-evolving field.
Northwest Arctic Borough residents pay no local taxes, so this expensive program is coming from federal taxpayers and the State of Alaska, which will chip in 10%.
The decision to overlook a dramatically cheaper, modern alternative for the more expensive and nearly outdated technology raises questions about why the district is not adopting Starlink or other satellite solutions, which are already available and being used in Kotzebue and other remote sites.
GCI’s E-Rate filing can be found here and the State of Alaska BAG 100 grant awards can be found here.
