Red Dog Mine and the community of Noatak in Northwest Alaska are soon expected to be a part of GCI’s TERRA broadband network. GCI made the announcement late last week, about a month after sharing plans to expand TERRA to ten communities in Norton Sound and the Northwest Arctic Borough.
Red Dog Mine, owned by Teck Red Dog Operations, is one of the largest zinc mines in the world. GCI’s Director of Corporate Communications, Heather Handyside, says the mine will serve as what’s called an “anchor tenant” for other communities. “Anchor tenants are what really makes it financially possible to bring services to communities,” she said. “Sometimes, communities are so small and the construction costs are so high, it’s hard to realize any business profit, but when we have an anchor tenant, we know we’ll have a contract for a long amount of time. We’ll have a steady stream of income from that contract, then we know that we can make the investment and provide more of a service to surrounding communities.”
Hospitals and schools will also serve as anchor tenants for the ten other communities expected to receive GCI’s broadband internet by the end of this year.
GCI anticipates the expansion to Red Dog Mine and Noatak to be completed in 2017.
