GCI closes Quintillion purchase before Utqiagvik backup fiber line is finished

GCI now owns the only fiber line along Alaska's Arctic coast.

The Anchorage telecom company closed its purchase of Quintillion on Monday, before a land line to Utqiagvik was finished, as the deal had originally required. Instead, GCI and the seller agreed to share the cost of building it.

The line matters well beyond Utqiagvik. Quintillion's network runs over land from Fairbanks to the North Slope, then under the sea to Utqiagvik, Wainwright, Point Hope, Kotzebue and Nome. It sells capacity to internet providers, including GCI and Alaska Communications.

Sea ice cut the undersea cable in 2023 and again in 2025. The 2025 break lasted nine months, according to GCI and Quintillion. The planned land route would give Utqiagvik a second fiber connection.

GCI agreed in April to buy Quintillion for $310 million. It had already lent the seller $160 million, which was credited toward the price at closing. After that and other adjustments, GCI paid about $18 million in cash on Monday, according to a federal securities filing by its parent company, Liberty Capital. It borrowed that money from a loan facility it set up in June for the deal.

Finishing the Utqiagvik route is expected to cost $27.5 million, under an amendment signed Monday.

The seller, Q Gateway Ultimate Holdings, will cover $16.75 million. GCI will take that out of future earn-out payments, which the seller could receive in 2028, 2029 and 2031 depending on Quintillion's revenue.

If the work costs more or less than expected, the two sides split the difference, within a range of $21.5 million to $33.5 million.

The seller's share could drop to $7.5 million. That would happen if an agreement between the North Slope Borough and Quintillion's undersea cable company takes effect by June 30, 2027. The agreement involves a federal Defense Community Infrastructure Program grant the borough won in September 2025.

GCI must make "commercially reasonable efforts" to finish the route, report on it every quarter and get the seller's consent for major changes.

"Bringing these networks together will increase routing diversity and support greater reliability across Alaska," Billy Wailand, GCI's senior vice president of corporate development, said in a release Monday. GCI says the deal adds more than 1,800 miles of existing fiber and about 1,500 miles of planned expansion.

The sale drew opposition. The Federal Communications Commission approved the sale Oct. 20 over the objections of Alaska Communications, which argued it would give GCI more power over the long-haul lines other providers rent to reach rural towns.

The FCC found GCI likely has some of that power and that it may grow. But it concluded that conditions on the sale and other factors would likely substantially limit the harm. GCI must honor and extend Quintillion's existing contracts for the life of the system and offer wholesale access on some routes at just and reasonable rates.

Another provider, Pacific Dataport, has since questioned whether those conditions will keep wholesale prices fair, and took its concerns to the FCC chairman's office.