On Friday, Quintillion Global’s repair vessel was cleared by its ice forecasters to proceed around Point Barrow to the area where the company’s fiber optic cable break had occurred earlier this summer. The vessel was en route to the location and repairs were set to commence as soon as it reached the destination.
It had been held up for several days at Wainwright because of remnants of sea ice that created hazardous conditions past Point Barrow.
The company is attempting to repair a subsea cable that was damaged by ice scouring, or moving ice on the seabed about 34 miles north of Oliktok Point. The break occurred on June 11. Most of the Arctic coastal communities have been without high- or moderate-speed internet and even cell phone service has been patchy ever since.
Quintillion is the first and only telecommunications operator to build a subsea and terrestrial fiber optic cable network in the US Arctic. The company intends to build out the network to Asia and Europe.
Is Starlink going to put these fellows out of business?
Life without internet and no cell service! Sounds wonderful. I remember life without either one. It was a much nicer time to be alive. People looked at each other and even talked with one another. I miss it. I can tell you for sure that people need to get over there cell phones and that technology will be the death of anything that is good.
What really is the push for fiber optic cable throughout the north? Is it to help with China’s world road system? Or, is it so that the globalists can take advantage of the cooler weather to bitcoin mine or crypto mine over a large area?
Redistribution of wealth to the indigenous groups of the interior as well as proper indoctrination of the youth who rely on the internet 24/7 for everything while losing their heritage of subsistence lifestyle and valuable hunting skills.
They must remain dependent on the government to maintain control of their land and resources. Dont ask why…just comply.
Maybe they will use Al Gore as their weather expert on ocean ice.
Some might call fiber optic in the North cultural appropriation.
There’s been no interruption of internet, thanks to the satellites. But you have to pay for that service. They want it for free, like their food and nearly every thing else. Good thing they have Mary Peltola to make sure that they stay dependent upon the government. The shipping costs of the groceries are highly subsidized by taxpayers money, then the Canadian owned grocery stores add 500% profit and blame the freight costs, but nobody cares because they are on food stamps, adjusted for their village. Lots of people getting rich from this program, long in place. Many have tried to help the native population of Alaska with self-sufficiency through jobs supporting mineral extraction or other things, but the government wishes them to remain their puppets with free stuff.
Yes, there was interruption of internet service when that fiber was either cut or crushed by the sea ice. Telecoms scrambled to move internet and other service to satellite and microwave systems. Internet, or fast internet, is still impacted. Telecoms continue to work to balance the loads, but service has less capacity than before the break. Too many people in north, northwest and western Alaska have, in a very short time, become very used to having very fast internet and plenty of it. Residents in the regions are learning that Starlink is not a replacement for fiber optic and microwave service. There’s a reason why other Alaska telecoms chose not to put fiber in the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea. Ice is unpredictable and it can take months before a repair is even possible. The ship off Oliktok Point found the landward side of the broken cable. But are still searching for the seaward side of the break. This could be over and done in days. It still might take weeks. Taken-for-granted internet and telecom is still exceptionally hard to deliver and maintain in Alaska.
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