Khanjee Holdings Inc. and the Kodiak-Kenai Cable Company (owned by the Alaska Native Corporations Old Harbor Native Corp. and the Ouzinkie Native Corp.) want to build a fiber-optic cable from Tokyo to London by way of the Arctic Ocean: Arctic fiber-optic cable could benefit far-flung Alaskans (Elizabeth Bluemink, Anchorage Daily News). Boosters say the $1 billion project could cut data transmission time from Japan to the U.K. in half. The shrinking Arctic ice cover is creating this opportunity.
Plans call for two connections with Alaska - in Dutch Harbor and in Prudhoe Bay. Cable access could have a big impact in rural Alaska:
...it could provide high-speed, reliable Internet to Bethel, Kotzebue, Nome and other communities. In the future, the network could be expanded to bring broadband Internet to 142 villages...
For now, most rural Alaska communities rely on satellite-based Internet, which is expensive and sometimes transmits data to households and businesses even more slowly than a dial-up Internet connection....
She [Denise Michels, Mayor of Nome - Ben] said high-speed Internet could create a lot of economic opportunities in her town and improved communication between local doctors and national medical experts. "
Developers are looking for $350 million in loans and grants from U.S. stimulus funding.