AIDEA board creates $75 million fiber company, adds screening for restricted partners

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority board on Wednesday authorized forming Northstar Fiber Development LLC, a wholly owned AIDEA subsidiary that can invest up to $75 million in undersea and land-based fiber lines.

The vote came on the plan Alaska News reported Oct. 16 was headed to the board. The resolution notes four systems connect Alaska to the Lower 48. Two, Alaska United East and NorthStar, began service in 1999 and have reached the end of a typical 25-year design life. None connects directly to Asia.

Executive Director Randy Ruaro can commit the full $75 million to Pacific fiber projects without another board vote. His authority to sign new commitments expires Dec. 31, 2028. The cap covers AIDEA's total exposure. A higher ceiling or any guarantee of project debt would require another vote.

The signed resolution differs from the version in the meeting packet in three ways. It bars ventures with owners, investors or lenders restricted under Alaska law or on federal restricted lists, or who would cost a project a required U.S. license. The new section says it does not limit entities from countries not subject to such restrictions. It requires outside counsel to confirm in writing before each commitment that no participant is restricted. And it moves reporting from quarterly to monthly.

The resolution puts Pacific links first: West Coast routes under U.S. jurisdiction, replacement of aging undersea capacity and more backup routes. The company will also explore links to Asia and, across the Arctic, to Europe. Investments should complement, not duplicate, last-mile work under Alaska's more than $1 billion federal BEAD broadband allocation.

Ruaro described such a link at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference in Anchorage on May 19, saying AIDEA was looking at "a new subsea fiber connection, high-speed, high-capacity, between Northeast Asia and Alaska."

Any deal must land capacity in Alaska and rest on binding customer contracts, not expressions of interest, memoranda of understanding, pipeline or forecasts. The resolution states that "by itself, it does not approve any specific project, route, party, or transaction."