Letters of Support from Alaska Native Corporate and Tribal Entities
KKCC has received letters of support from the following Alaska native corporate and tribal entities:
Alaska Federation of Natives
Bering Straits Native Corporation
Bristol Bay Native Corporation
Kawerak, Inc.
Paug-vik Village Native Corporation
Ounalashka Village Corporation
Koniag, Inc.
In addition to letters of support from Alaska native corporate and tribal entities, KKCC has letters of support from the following:
Letters from Federal Officials
Letters from State Officials and Entities
Letters from Local Government Officials and Entities
Letters from Local Exchange Carriers and Utilities
Letters from Educational Institutions
Letters from Health Care Entities
Letters from Scientific Research Entities
Letters from Other Organizations and Individuals
Letters from Equipment Suppliers
Quotes from Letters of Support
“I am writing to express . . . support for . . . the Northern Fiber Optic Link (NFOL) project . . . The rural region that would be served by the NFOL is . . . approximately equivalent in size to the combined land area in . . . West Virginia, Ohio, New Jersey, Arkansas, South Carolina, Maine Delaware, Iowa, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. Most of the region is currently “unserved” . . . Upon full build out . . . this effort will positively impact almost 80% of the 178 villages in Alaska . . . some of our villages are just emerging from conditions that are similar in some ways to those of the Third World . . . The combined impacts on our people from the remoteness of villages, lack of roads, the isolation of young people, lack of reliable allweather transportation, high unemployment, poverty, teen-age suicide . . . lack of access to hospitals, prevalence of substance, spousal and child abuse, and near absence of jobs are beyond those of any other region of the United States . . . Genuine, fiber optic-based broadband is . . . key to people living under harsh conditions in rural Alaska gaining better medical care, better educations, more jobs . . . The importance of this project to rural Alaska can’t be overstated . . .”
- Julie Kitka, President, Alaska Federation of Natives, August 12, 2009
“A strong rural Alaska economy supports a strong overall State economy. Access to affordable, reliable, robust, high-speed telecommunications infrastructure is limited in Southwest . . . Alaska . . . Access to such infrastructure is a critical element of any thriving . . . economy . . . We enthusiastically look . . . to the KKCC NFOL project moving forward . . .”
- Wendy Svarny-Hawthorne, CEO, Ounalashka Corporation, June 26, 2009
“…We are not satisfied with the quality of service from …satellite operations, including frequent and long periods of down time, slow access speeds, the inability to carry on commerce in a 21st century fashion, lack of access for distance-education, the limitations imposed in general by satellite operations…We are paying unreasonably high fees for substandard service, especially when compared to what is routinely available in the Lower 48.”
- Kawerak, Inc. Resolution 2009-07, April 3, 2009