The Internet access market is growing in Alaska as traditional terrestrial network owners look to supplement coverage with satellite options.
Alaska Communications is now selling Starlink internet to business customers, adding a high-speed connectivity option and backup network service for organizations operating across Alaska’s remote and weather-challenged terrain.
Alaska Communications announced on Oct. 14 that it has finalized an agreement to become an authorized reseller of Starlink, the low Earth orbit satellite internet service engineered and operated by SpaceX. The deal lets the Anchorage-based telecommunications company offer Starlink’s LEO satellite service to business customers seeking expanded coverage or network redundancy.
The company said the offering is aimed at industries where connectivity failures can interrupt essential operations, including energy, mining, tourism, transportation, education and healthcare. Alaska’s sparse road network, remote communities and severe weather can make traditional telecommunications infrastructure difficult and costly to build and maintain.
Starlink will be positioned as both a primary high-speed option in hard-to-reach locations and a failover service for businesses already using fibre or fixed wireless. Even urban organizations can face outages, and a satellite backup can provide an additional layer of resilience when terrestrial networks go down.
“This opportunity is transformative for Alaska and for organizations in critical industries where downtime can disrupt essential services,” Dale Knipp, Alaska Communications’ Chief Revenue Officer, said in the announcement. He said adding Starlink would help organizations operate with greater resilience and reliability.
Businesses that buy Starlink through Alaska Communications will receive professional installation from trained technicians, Alaska-based customer service and technical support, and a customer-facing portal to view and manage terminals. The company will also bundle Starlink billing with its other communications services.
