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KKCC Launch Dedication

Alcatel and KKCC Install New Submarine Cable Network

Alcatel’s submarine networks

Kodiak Kenai Fiber Link Nears Completion


Anchorage splice completed
Fiber optic cable link nears completion

Anchorage– Kodiak Kenai Cable Company (KKCC) is on the final segment of a 600 mile marine telecommunications cable that will, for the first time, connect Kodiak, Homer and Kenai with Seward, Anchorage and the rest of Alaska and the nation by high-speed, broadband, all-weather, fiber optic technology.

On Monday, October 16, Alcatel's cable ship the Maersk Defender completed the Anchorage shore-end cable splice work near Woronzof Shoal and started burying approximately 12 miles of fiber optic cable towards Fire Island. Upon completion of this Anchorage segment, the Defender will steam off for Kenai to finish installing the last segment of the cable system between Homer and Kenai with the final Kenai splice expected to be completed on Friday, October 27. The fiber optic system is expected to be fully serviceable and available to the carriers by December 15.

"We're extremely pleased with our progress. Despite severe weather conditions causing some delay in the Barren Islands--we are on schedule and will deliver on time" said Walt Ebell, CEO of KKCC. "We have a great team working on this project and congratulate them for their dedication and hard work."

KKCC began laying submarine fiber optic cable for the Kodiak Kenai Fiber Link (KKFL) telecommunications system on July 17, 2006, in Seward. The Maersk Defender, a 350-foot custom-built installation cable ship, will have buried 600 miles of cable approximately three and a half feet deep along the ocean floor. The process in which the cable reaches shore involves “floating” the cable ashore. This is done to prevent damage to both the seabed and the cable. Once the cable end is ashore and secure, the flotation bags will be removed and the cable will settle to the seabed. Upon arrival at the other cable end (previously installed and buoyed off) the position of the laying vessel will be adjusted until both cable ends are on board. A final splice cable joint will be made and lowered overboard and deployed on the seabed.

The KKFL will provide secure, high-speed, broadband telecommunications capability to the nation’s largest Coast Guard base on Kodiak Island, the strategically important Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation’s (AADC) Launch Complex at Narrow Cape [critical to the development of the Ground-based Midcourse Missile Defense system], and the 60,000 people of Kodiak Island, the Kenai Peninsula and Seward. This will substantially aid national defense, marine rescue, telemedicine, distance learning, economic development and research. It will minimize exposure of the Turnagain Arm communication corridor to earthquakes, landslides or terrorist acts. It will also facilitate connecting schools, industry and commerce to the world with real-time broadband Internet and highly reliable, all weather phone service.

The cable runs from Kodiak to Anchorage with landing facilities located at the Kodiak Launch Complex at Narrow Cape, Mill Bay on Kodiak Island, Homer, Kenai and Anchorage. An additional route from Kodiak through Seward and back to Anchorage will create a redundant SONET loop, ensuring enhanced reliability against natural or man-made disruptions.

Northern Telecommunications Construction, Inc. has constructed the six landing facilities – the Kodiak Launch Complex at Narrow Cape, Mill Bay on Kodiak Island and those in Homer and Seward. Anchorage and Kenai landing facilities will be completed soon.

Including design and construction, the overall cost of the project will be approximately $36 million through a combination of private and public funding. This technological link will be a seamless, repeaterless fiber optic marine cable, providing for current and future service requirements at the highest industry standards and at a competitive cost. Improved telecommunication delivery will enhance economic and educational opportunities and health services for all the communities connected by this system.

Alcatel will deploy its well-proven unrepeatered submarine cable and terminal technology to offer secure and reliable transmission capacity together with its 1677 SL SONET system to provide flexible connectivity at the network’s landing stations. Completion of the project will dramatically improve security and expand the potential benefits of this technology beyond Kodiak and the Kenai Peninsula by improving communications reliability for Anchorage, Fairbanks and all of interior Alaska.