GCI Expands 5G to 9 More Southeast Alaska Towns
GCI has expanded 5G service to nine more Southeast Alaska communities, boosting mobile connectivity across the region.
Sept. 1, 2026 — General Communications Inc. is expanding 5G service to nine more Southeast Alaska communities, completing updates in Craig, Haines, Hydaburg, Kake, Klawock, Klukwan, Metlakatla, Skagway, and Thorne Bay.
GCI, which serves more than 200 communities, says that the work brings faster speeds and greater unlimited talk, text and data coverage to residents who rely on connectivity for ferry schedules, weather information and travel. The upgrades are part of a statewide push that has brought 5G to more than 125 communities - around 83% of Alaskans - since GCI launched the service in Anchorage in 2020.
Alaska, which is roughly one-fifth the size of the lower 48 contiguous states, has about 737,000 people.
GCI said in an Aug. 20 press release that the upgrades were supported in part by the Universal Service Fund’s Alaska Plan, which subsidizes service in high-cost rural areas.
“Every investment we make is aimed at creating more direct, high‑quality connections to our network,” said Troy Goldie, GCI’s Chief Technology Officer.
GCI, Alaska’s largest telecommunications provider, has repeatedly called the USF an essential lifeline for the state. At a March 2026 industry summit, GCI Liberty CEO Ron Duncan said about 40% of GCI’s roughly $1 billion in annual revenue comes from USF support, arguing that without those hundreds of millions of dollars, rural Alaska “couldn’t continue to exist” as a connected region.
The company is also moving to consolidate critical infrastructure, agreeing to acquire subsea fiber operator Quintillion for $310 million. Once closed, the deal will add more than 1,800 miles of existing subsea and terrestrial fiber to GCI’s network, plus up to 1,500 miles of planned new builds, strengthening backhaul capacity across remote and Arctic‑exposed regions that have suffered prolonged outages.
Both firms have won funding under the federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program program.
