Federal grant of $500,000 would replace generators on the mountaintop relays that carry Akhiok's internet

Akhiok's internet runs through two unstaffed relay sites on high ground above Kodiak Island, and a $500,000 federal grant signed Sept. 1 would replace the generators and batteries that keep them alive.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration awarded the money to Old Harbor Native Corporation under the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program. The award record describes upgrades at the McCord and Jap Bay high sites "to strengthen reliability, resilience, and long-term service continuity for the Native Village of Akhiok." The work is to "replace aging equipment including generators and indoor battery systems" and to upgrade antennas and add remote monitoring and control. The period of performance runs through May 31, 2028. The federal record shows no outlay against the award yet, though that does not establish that no money has actually been spent.

Old Harbor Native Corporation is an Alaska Native village corporation established in 1971 under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Akhiok is the southernmost Alutiiq village on Kodiak Island, reachable only by boat or plane. The record names one subrecipient, Kodiak Microwave Systems, "a tribally owned enterprise, which will be responsible for all project management and subcontractor oversight." The corporation owns that network jointly with Ouzinkie Native Corporation, and it serves Akhiok, Old Harbor, Port Lions, Ouzinkie, Larsen Bay, Port Graham and Nanwalek.

The Alutiiq Tribe of Old Harbor held a $500,000 grant under the same program, signed Sept. 14, 2023, to acquire and upgrade the same microwave system for 40 megabits per second down and 5 up. Its period of performance closed Aug. 31, 2026. NTIA's award page for that grant put its beneficiaries at 72 tribal member households, two community anchor institutions and one tribal business, all in Old Harbor. The tribe subawarded $490,000 of it to Kodiak Microwave System LLC, and the subaward report filed March 31, 2026 says the contractor installed 12 high-frequency radios, two antennas, four generators and new batteries across sites serving the same seven communities, raising the network from 100 Mbps to 1 gigabit.

NTIA announced a $29.3 million grant to the Native Village of Port Lions in September 2022 for fiber connecting 930 unserved Native households at 1 gigabit per second in both directions, roughly $31,500 a household. That project's period of performance runs through Aug. 31, 2027.

Old Harbor Native Corporation secured part of $162 million in second-round program funding for Project Nunapet, a 155-mile subsea cable and fiber-to-the-home build serving Old Harbor, Akhiok, Chiniak and Womens Bay.

Every fact here comes from the federal award records. None of the parties speaks in them.