Fiber Break in Alaska Causes Widespread Network Outages

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 2025 – A subsea fiber cut in Alaska will cause extensive network issues in Northern Alaska.

According to telecommunications company Quintillion, early Saturday morning there were several reports of widespread network outages affecting Northwest Alaskan residents. Upon review by the Quintilion team, it was determined the outage was caused by a subsea fiber cut in the Beaufort Sea.

Quintillion has an approximately 1,180 mile-long subsea fiber cable network that spreads throughout Northern and Western Alaska, and this outage will affect each stop along the route.

Quintillion President Mac McHale said that due to the sea ice and darkness in the region causing the inability to work, the network will be out of order until the late summer. The company has to wait until the ice-reduced summer to begin repairs.

In the meantime, McHale said the company will attempt to build a land bridge to try and get its customers internet access sooner. The land bridge would still take months to complete with full government cooperation and support, which they have yet to receive.

“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,” McHale said.

Quintillion ran into a similar situation back in 2023, where it took the company 14 weeks to repair a severed fiber optic cable in Northern and Western Alaska.

Quintillion is owned by Grain Management, a private equity firm in Washington, D.C., that also owns Ritter Communications in Arkansas and Great Plains Communications in Nebraska.