Cell service coming to Arctic boroughs

BUCKLAND - An Alaska company is extending cell phone service to Arctic villages still waiting for running water.

Dan Boyette, vice president of rural consumer service at GCI, said the expansion to the Arctic boroughs is part of the company's plan to offer service in every Alaska community within two years.

"We want to be the state's premier carrier," Boyette said. "This is just another step in that progression."

It's a step that pleases those in Buckland. Like many small villages, it lacks running water and a sewer system. But getting cell phone service will provide them with a helpful modern convenience.

"My 15-year-old son is very excited; right now it's something that we use only in the city," Mayor Glenna Parrish told The Arctic Sounder newspaper.

GCI workers arrived in mid-July to place a tower just outside the village. Buckland isn't scheduled to gain service for another month, but Parrish said her nephew has already called from a cell phone across the river.

Besides villages in the Northwest Arctic and North Slope Boroughs, several in Bristol Bay will get coverage by September, as will King Cove, Cold Bay and Tatitlik.

To offer service in distant towns, GCI will distribute a switch in each village. The switch routes all the phone calls, but by having one in each village instead of a single central switch, customers will be able to make local calls when there is a satellite failure.

Boyette said erecting 60-foot towers in villages far off the road system is a challenge but not an insurmountable one.

"It's not something that we haven't done before or other companies haven't done," he said.

Parrish said village residents will need time to get accustomed to the wireless devices, but she believes they'll be happy to have it.

"I think it will be beneficial for winter time, when people are traveling on snowmachines, and it's good to have communication in case it's real stormy," Parrish said.