Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Friday thanked the 14-member Governor’s Task Force on Broadband for its comprehensive and timely report on how best to connect all Alaskans with affordable, high-speed broadband. The taskforce is comprised of stakeholders who produced a comprehensive report on how Alaska can close the digital divide.
The report’s timing coincides with the news of potentially $1 billion to $1.5 billion in funding coming to the state of Alaska for broadband from the recent adoption of the federal infrastructure act.
The Broadband Task Force has been meeting since July and its members represent a broad swath of Alaska’s broadband stakeholders, including Alaska Native leaders, local government officials, urban and rural business leaders, state legislators, rural healthcare representatives, a rural school district superintendent, the telecommunications industry, the Commissioner of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, the Commissioner of the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, and several other participants, according to the office of Gov. Dunleavy.
The report aims to make possible for every Alaskan to participate and be competitive in the global community by facilitating access to the full benefits of broadband with improved quality of service and lower costs. The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the need for reliable, high-speed broadband as Gov. Dunleavy issued an administrative order establishing the Broadband Task Force to provide recommendations that assist in the buildout of broadband networks in Alaska.
The list of recommendations in the report includes:
- Focus on bringing every Alaskan’s home internet bandwidth to at least 100 mbps download speed and 20 mbps upload speeds (100/20 mbps).
- to create an Office of Broadband within the State of Alaska, focused on the deployment of broadband infrastructure funding to build out Alaska’s networks and ensure broadband access and digital equity.
Read the final report here.