Quintillion Completes Arctic Cable Burial, Restores Connectivity After 9 Months

Oct. 22, 2025 – Alaska-based internet service provider Quintillion announced it has restored connectivity to all communities affected by a near nine-month service disruption.

President Mac McHale said Friday that crews completed repair and burial work on its subsea fiber optic cable near Oliktok Point, which was severed by sea ice in January.

Using specialized equipment aboard the CanPac Valkyrie, crews buried the repaired section deeper beneath the seafloor – adding a new layer of protection against future risks from shifting ice and other Arctic environmental hazards.

McHale said the project represents “an important milestone” in Quintillion’s long-term effort to strengthen Alaska’s digital backbone. “By securing this portion of cable at a greater depth, we’ve enhanced the long-term resilience of our system in one of the most dynamic marine environments on earth,” he said.

He said the completion of the effort marked the first step in Quintillion’s broader network resiliency initiative.

The company has major infrastructure projects already underway, including a planned subsea fiber extension to complete a statewide “fiber ring,” providing additional route diversity and capacity across Alaska. A new terrestrial fiber route on the North Slope will also create inland redundancy and further harden the network.

The internet service provider had to postpone repairs for six months because of Arctic conditions, such as darkness and thick sea ice surrounding the line. The company dispatched vessels this July to repair the undersea cable lines. 

It announced in September that crews had successfully repaired and spliced the damaged segment, restoring initial connectivity before beginning burial work near Oliktok Point. Quintillion had relied on a patchwork of backup solutions to keep communities connected in the meantime. 

While Quintillion says service has been restored across all affected areas, residents in some North Slope and Northwest Arctic communities reported lingering connectivity issues in recent weeks. In online remarks, several users in Kotzebue and surrounding villages said cell coverage remained unreliable, with some still relying on satellite services like Starlink to stay online.

The outage affected several communities in the North Slope and Northwest Arctic Boroughs. These two boroughs are the northernmost county or county equivalents in the U.S., with a combined land area more than three times that of Virginia and a population less than one-third that of Cheyenne, Wyoming.