Pacific Dataport takes GCI-Quintillion objections to FCC chairman's office

Pacific Dataport took its objections to GCI's $310 million purchase of Quintillion to the office of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr on Nov. 3. Shawn Williams, the Anchorage company's vice president of government affairs and strategy, met with Keelin Ferris of the chairman's office, according to the company's notice of the meeting.

The dispute concerns middle-mile access: the long-haul transport competing providers buy to reach rural communities. Quintillion's 1,176-mile fiber system connects Prudhoe Bay, Utqiagvik, Wainwright, Point Hope, Kotzebue and Nome. Pacific Dataport, which sells Starlink and Eutelsat OneWeb satellite service and advertises middle-mile service, questioned whether the commission's access conditions would yield "genuinely fair, reasonable, and competitive rates rather than perpetuating existing market disadvantages," the filing said.

The visit follows meetings in October with staff in the offices of Commissioners Trusty and Gomez, where the company raised the same objections, Alaska News reported Oct. 27.

On Oct. 20, the FCC authorized the transfer and denied a petition to deny filed by Alaska Communications (ACS), which had asked the agency to block or restrict the sale unless rivals got guaranteed access to the network at regulated prices. The order found GCI likely has "some degree of market power" over wholesale middle-mile service. But it concluded that lower costs from replacing some GCI microwave links with fiber and competition from low Earth orbit satellites would likely substantially mitigate potential harms.

The conditions treat GCI's existing Quintillion contract rates and terms as just and reasonable for each contract's length or four years after closing, whichever is later. Inflation adjustments cannot begin until at least three years after closing, and only if inflation exceeds 5%. GCI must also provide wholesale access on just, reasonable and not unreasonably discriminatory terms on specified routes.

Pacific Dataport questioned the denial of what it called ACS's "very strong Petition to Deny" and the rejection of what it called economist Dr. Hal J. Singer's recommendation. In a declaration attached to the ACS petition, Singer argued GCI would gain the incentive and ability to raise Quintillion's wholesale rates to retail rivals. The order said he did not consider possible cost savings from the deal.

GCI and Quintillion argued in their reply comments that the deal would create three new network rings and back up a fourth, including a fiber ring protecting service from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta to Bristol Bay.

The meeting also covered delays in federal E-Rate funding decisions for rural Alaska schools and libraries, which the company said leave providers delivering broadband without approved funding. The company also urged Universal Service Fund changes, including no monthly subsidy for a home that has chosen Starlink service.

As of Nov. 5, the FCC's licensing database still listed the transfer as pending consummation and showed no request for reconsideration or review. Under the order, such challenges may be filed within 30 days of its Oct. 20 release, making Nov. 19 the deadline.