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

Akhiok's internet reaches the village the hard way: bounced through two unstaffed relay stations perched on high ground above Kodiak Island, running on generators and batteries. A $500,000 federal grant signed this month would replace that aging equipment before it fails.

The money went to Old Harbor Native Corporation, through a federal program that funds broadband for tribal communities. It would swap out the generators and indoor batteries at the two mountain sites, upgrade the antennas, and add remote monitoring so problems can be caught without someone hiking up to check — all to keep service steady for the Native Village of Akhiok, the southernmost Alutiiq village on Kodiak Island, reachable only by boat or plane.

The relay network is locally owned. Old Harbor Native Corporation holds it jointly with Ouzinkie Native Corporation, and it runs the microwave system through a tribally owned enterprise, Kodiak Microwave Systems, which will manage the work. The same network serves a string of remote communities beyond Akhiok — Old Harbor, Port Lions, Ouzinkie, Larsen Bay, Port Graham and Nanwalek.

This grant builds on a steady push to shore up connectivity across the region. Two years ago, another $500,000 grant paid to acquire and upgrade the same microwave system, and a contractor has since installed new radios, antennas, generators and batteries across the seven communities — work that lifted the network's capacity roughly tenfold. Bigger builds are coming too: the corporation has secured a share of federal money for Project Nunapet, a 155-mile subsea cable and fiber-to-the-home project that would reach Old Harbor, Akhiok and two other communities.