Calista seeks airport land at Kwethluk, Napakiak to bring hardwired broadband

Calista Corporation wants to put communications shelters on state airport land in Kwethluk and Napakiak to deliver hardwired broadband internet to both Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta villages. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities posted the parallel permit proposals Tuesday.

Each filing covers roughly 625 square feet of airport property, a five-year permit term, and $625 in annual rent. DOT&PF classified both sites as non-aeronautical use. The agency described the purpose plainly: "Structures are necessary to provide hardwired broadband internet to the community."

Calista represents more than 34,000 Alaska Native shareholders across 56 villages along the Kuskokwim and Yukon rivers and the Bering Sea coast. Reliable internet has been scarce in communities like these, complicating telehealth, schooling, and basic commerce.

Napakiak adds a complication Kwethluk doesn't face. The village is experiencing severe erosion along the Kuskokwim River and is actively planning to relocate infrastructure, raising the possibility that a shelter sited at the airport there could become a stranded asset before the five-year permit expires.