Unicom, Inc., (a GCI Communication Corp. (GCI) subsidiary) is expanding broadband internet into two rural, Alaska Native communities (Deering and Kivalina) in Alaska’s Northwest Arctic Borough. Building on more than a decade long commitment to developing internet connectivity across rural Alaska, the newest Unicom project continues the company’s work to provide an ease of operations for Alaska’s businesses, as well as facilitate advancements in telemedicine capabilities and distance learning opportunities for the 634 community residents.

Due to the network’s location and relatively low user base, Alaska Growth Capital BIDCO, Inc. doing business as McKinley Alaska Growth Capital (MAGC) secured $9 million in flexible and affordable financing under the NMTC program in support of Unicom. Broadstreet Impact Services, an affiliate of LISC, provided $8 million of its NMTC allocation to the project, with U.S. Bank as the investor.

The capital filled a gap that the private marketplace cannot address on its own, given the low population density of the towns as well as low local incomes, with a poverty rate that tops 29 percent and an unemployment rate approaching 30 percent. Without the NMTC subsidy, the project was not financially feasible.

GCI is partnering with a regional health care provider and an educational provider as part of its broadband strategies in Deering and Kivalina: the Maniilaq Association represents 12 Native tribes and operates a hospital and health clinics in the region, and Northwest Arctic Borough School District operates schools for approximately 1,850 students.

Just 52 percent of local residents in both towns have a high school diploma, and plans for distance learning to improve academic outcomes have been limited by ineffective online access, particularly during the pandemic. Deering and Kivalina are also medically underserved areas, with limited access to primary care and even less to behavioral health care—both of which could be expanded with efficient telehealth. Broadband access could allow health providers to reach more people and, in particular, address the state’s high rate of death by suicide, which for Native populations is a shocking 35.1 per 100,000 people.