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Quintillion Says Fixing Outage Could Take Months

Alaska's Quintillion expects a "prolonged" outage of its service to North Slope and northwest Alaskan communities due to a fiber cut under the Beaufort Sea, according to President Mac McHale. McHale said that the company became aware of the outage…

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Saturday and that winter conditions, including sea ice and darkness, "have made it impossible to pinpoint an exact location of the cut and the extent of the cable damage." He added, "Unfortunately, the outage will be prolonged, and sea ice will prevent a repair crew and vessel from entering the area and completing a subsea repair until late summer." McHale said Quintillion "is aggressively exploring options" for a short-term fix, such as a terrestrial route. "The good news is that Quintillion had previously invested millions of dollars to acquire the cable needed for such a route and has this hardware on hand in Fairbanks," he said. That option, though, "will require significant assistance from the federal government." He said the company has been working with the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope on obtaining a FEMA resilient infrastructure grant, with a joint application being filed with FEMA in March. Quintillion will continue pressing for FEMA support and pursuing the Bureau of Land Management permits needed to build this terrestrial route. "To expedite a repair, we will need the full force and support of the incoming Trump Administration, including cutting federal government red tape and eliminating bureaucratic obstacles that will stand between Quintillion and system restoration," McHale said. "The time for federal agencies to act is now.”