GCI set for first phase of broadband build out

The TERRA-Southwest Project will connect 65 rural communities to fiber-optic and microwave broadband networks, significantly speeding Internet connections that have been relying on satellite connectivity.

Marsh Creek knows "how to do projects right in rural Alaska. They know how take into account local economic development, stay on schedule and on budget," said Krag Johnsen, director of rural broadband development with GCI.

Marsh Creek is certified with the Small Business Administration's 8(a) federal contracting program. The 8(a) program allows certain economically disadvantaged businesses access to federal contracts without competition from other companies.

Marsh Creek is an Anchorage-based Small Business Administration certified 8(a) business jointly owned by Kaktovik Inupiat Corp., a Native corporation for the North Slope village of Kaktovik, and SolstenXP of Anchorage, a project management and contracting service company for the petroleum and natural resource industries.

Marsh Creek's website says it provides telecom, civil and environmental construction, and energy systems, with operations in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Utah and Virginia.

Jonathan Ealy, chief operating officer, said the company's revenue stream is about $55 million. The company has done work on many similar projects, he said, including previous efforts for GCI and remote towers for the Federal Aviation Administration.

The company will be responsible for constructing four mountaintop towers, including sites on Cone Mountain, Caribou Ridge, Kulukak and Muklung. Subcontractors will build seven others in Southwest villages.

The mountaintop sites might change, Johnsen said, depending on whether permits are granted for those four sites.

Each tower will be accompanied by a power building housing a generator.

Ealy said subcontractors will handle the village site construction and that Marsh Creek will handle the mountain sites.

GCI would not disclose the contract amount, but Johnsen said it was significant and that Marsh Creek and its subcontractors would be performing "by far the largest portion of the project."

United Utilities Inc., a GCI subsidiary, got an $88 million loan/grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The money is from federal stimulus appropriations.

From Anchorage to Levelock, 279 miles southwest of Anchorage, the network will use fiber-optic technology, transmitting data over a glass or plastic fiber line.

From Levelock to Emmonak, about 361 miles northwest, the network will transition into a microwave network, in which microwave towers send signals wirelessly to receivers in the various communities.

GCI will "try to build as much as we can" this year, Johnsen said. Starting this month, the carrier plans to construct the fiber wire piece from Igiugig to Levelock. The connection from Homer to Igiugig will be completed this summer. This connection involves submerging the line underneath Cook Inlet and Iliamna Lake.

The mountaintop towers will require right-of-way permits from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Additionally, the project will require permits from the state, the Army Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies.

Johnsen hopes that permitting for the Igiugig to Levelock leg will be completed this month. He believes the overall environmental assessment, as well as permitting for the mountaintop towers, will be completed by the end of March.

GCI has until 2013 to finish the whole project, under its funding agreement with the USDA.

Johnsen estimates that the project will create 150 to 200 construction jobs, but the "real job creation number for this network is after we've constructed it," he said, as increased Internet connectivity brings about its own economic benefits.