For too long, high-speed internet—something most Americans take for granted—has been a luxury in many Alaska communities. Entire regions have been left grappling with slow, unreliable, or prohibitively expensive service. In a state where distance and geography define daily life, connectivity is not just about convenience – it’s about opportunity.
The Alaska Broadband Office, housed within the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, was created to coordinate the largest broadband expansion in Alaska’s history and ensure that communities across the state finally receive the modern connectivity they deserve.
With recent formal approval from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Alaska can now fully deploy its Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program awards. Alaska’s share of this vision is significant: more than $1 billion allocated to the state, with over $629 million now awarded to fifteen subgrantees. These funds will support twenty-nine broadband deployment projects—fiber, wireless, satellite, and hybrid systems—that collectively aim to connect more than 46,000 homes and small businesses across the state.
For some communities, the first signs of real, high-speed service may arrive as soon as this summer. Within three years, around 70 percent of BEAD locations from Utqiaġvik to Metlakatla are expected to go online.
That’s not just progress, it’s transformation.
Governor Dunleavy has been clear: connecting Alaska’s remote communities to reliable internet isn’t simply an upgrade to infrastructure. It’s an investment in Alaska’s future. Reliable connectivity allows students to take online courses, entrepreneurs to reach global markets, families to access telehealth, and workers to compete for remote jobs without leaving their communities.
History shows that when rural communities gain modern connectivity, young people stay, entrepreneurship grows, and long-term population decline can reverse. Alaska’s rural communities—so rich in culture, tradition, and natural resources—stand to benefit immensely.
Of course, building broadband in Alaska is no small task. Crews must contend with vast distances, harsh weather, limited transportation networks, and costs that can dwarf similar projects elsewhere in the country. The Alaska Broadband office is helping to coordinate efforts, working with providers and communities, and ensuring investments are deployed strategically and efficiently.
This moment represents something Alaska has waited a long time for: a coordinated, statewide effort to close the digital divide once and for all.
The goal is simple – Internet for All Alaskans.
And for the first time, we have the tools, coordination, and the momentum to make it happen.
Commissioner Julie Sande
Alaska Dept. of Commerce, Community, & Economic Development
Juneau, AK
8(a) Works for Alaskans
Alaska is at a crossroads. The federal 8(a) Business Development Program, which enables Alaska Native corporations to compete for federal contracts, is under attack. Every Alaskan should be paying attention, because this is about more than how Alaska Native Corporations generate the majority of their revenue. It is about preserving an economic engine that sustains thousands of families, stabilizes communities, and supports Alaska as a whole. We are the underdog in this fight, and the consequences of inaction will ripple far beyond boardrooms and balance sheets.
For those unfamiliar, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) of 1971 was landmark legislation that resolved aboriginal land claims in Alaska by creating Alaska Native corporations. These entities were designed to promote economic self-sufficiency for Alaska Native people rather than dependency on federal aid.
Unlike tribes in the Lower 48, Alaska Native corporations were intentionally structured to compete in the American economy. The 8(a) program became a critical tool in that mission, allowing disadvantaged businesses to compete for federal contracting opportunities and build capacity in highly competitive markets. Take into account that a majority of the ANCs created have little to no local economy to speak of, there is no other option for these businesses to create shareholder value than to leave their village, and to leave their State returning those revenues to their people in the form of dividends, scholarships, and cultural preservation programs.
That story does not belong to Alaska Native people alone. The success of Alaska Native Corporations benefits the entire state. Alaska Native Corporations revenues – those created outside of Alaska and returned here – typically account for over a quarter of the State of Alaska’s GDP. They make up over 80 percent of Alaska Business Monthly’s top 49ers lists and they are some of the largest employers in the State.
ANCs are some of the only companies reversing the economic model of extracting resources mostly for the benefit of far-off corporations. In a place long defined by outside companies extracting wealth from Alaska’s lands and sending the profits elsewhere, Alaska Native Corporations reverse that model, generating revenue in national and global markets and reinvesting it back into Alaska’s communities, workforce, and future.
In the early years following ANCSA, some corporations were taken advantage of and outright exploited by unscrupulous actors. Progress was slowed, trust was tested, and lessons were learned the hard way. Over time, Alaska Native corporations built institutions with strict internal controls, rigorous oversight, and accountability to shareholders and communities. Today, these heavily regulated corporations are proud to serve the federal government and local partners across the country. Alaska Native corporations employ tens of thousands, generate billions in revenue, reinvest in communities, and stabilize Alaska’s fragile private-sector economy.
Globally, Alaska Native corporations place a priority on employing veterans, operate sectors critical to the military and federal government, and consistently deliver results. Our record speaks for itself: lower rates of fraud than our bigger competitors, consistent performance, and the ability to deliver valuable services wherever they are needed.
There is one major difference between Alaska Native Corporations and our larger competitors, that is that ANCs are mandated by Congress to provide for their peoples’ social, cultural, and economic well-being in perpetuity. We are constantly audited to ensure that our revenues and profits are providing benefits to our people, no other American Corporation is held to that same standard, period.
This is a conversation that should be happening at your dinner table. If the 8(a) program is dismantled, the consequences will hit Alaska hard, risking another cycle of boom and bust that the state has weathered too many times before. Without Alaska Native Corporations as a strong backbone of Alaska’s economy, Anchorage risks becoming little more than a military outpost with a thin service sector. Oil and gas alone will not sustain the state, no matter how loudly “drill, baby, drill” is cheered.
Alaska’s economy has always required diversification and long-term thinking. Alaska Native corporations are doing exactly that, building businesses while fulfilling a social mission while other corporations in recent years have touted “Corporate Social Responsibility” we have provided the roadmap to what Corporate Social Responsibility means for over 50 years.
Today, Alaska Native corporations are finding their footing, building disciplined, accountable institutions that serve their shareholders and communities. Recent attacks on the 8(a) program mischaracterize these corporations as being run by outsiders.
In reality, Alaska Native people serve on the boards, set the strategy, and guide the work, while Alaska Native shareholders are the primary beneficiaries. We have sent our people to Ivy League schools, provided them with ground up accelerated r