Aniak's Bush-Tell has drawn more than $12 million in federal support to serve river villages

Bush-Tell Inc., the Aniak-based carrier that serves villages along the middle Kuskokwim River, has been awarded more than $12.2 million in federal telephone and broadband support since the end of 2019, according to Federal Communications Commission records on USAspending.gov updated Friday.

Most of it, $10,321,499, comes through the Alaska Plan, part of the FCC's High Cost Program, which pays carriers to run networks in places the commission considers unserved or underserved. Another $1,836,360 comes from support that replaced money phone companies used to earn by charging each other to complete calls, known as CAF ICC. The smallest piece, $50,503, is Lifeline, which discounts service for low-income households. Bush-Tell's Lifeline plan lists unlimited local calling for $1 a month.

The company is also building fiber-optic lines directly to homes with a $29,945,251 U.S. Department of Agriculture ReConnect grant. The project covers Aniak, Upper and Lower Kalskag, Crooked Creek, Red Devil, Sleetmute and Stony River on the Kuskokwim, and Holy Cross, Anvik, Shageluk and Grayling to the west. USDA lists it as serving 241 households and benefiting 697 people, 38 businesses and seven schools and other educational facilities.

The Alaska Plan was set to end Dec. 31, 2026. In November 2024, the FCC extended it for two years, through 2028, for all Alaska Plan carriers, who keep their existing service and buildout obligations in the meantime. A new program, the Alaska Connect Fund, is set to take over Jan. 1, 2029, and run through 2034.

The call-completion support is less settled. Another rural carrier, Alaska Power & Telephone, told the FCC last month that ending that support without a replacement would cut about $1.1 million a year from its revenue across 40 remote communities.

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska has told federal regulators that ongoing high-cost support remains necessary to keep phone and internet service running in remote areas, while also faulting federal funding formulas for not reflecting what carriers actually spend.