President Trump announced in Alaska that the Federal Communications Commission will vote this month to invest an additional $162 million to expand high-speed internet across the state, crediting a years-long partnership with Sen. Dan Sullivan and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.
"For years, Dan Sullivan has worked with my administration to support rural broadband for Alaska," Trump said. "He's brought high-speed internet to hundreds of thousands of people in the state, and today we're joined by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, and I'm pleased to announce that Brendan has informed me just a little while ago. The Commission will vote this month to invest an additional 162 million dollars to expand high-speed internet in Alaska."
Carr: 'No Service' Across the Aleutians
Carr, who described himself as in Alaska in his personal capacity, recounted his first visit to the state and the dead zone he found in one of its most remote regions.
"This is my third time to Alaska. The first time I came here I went halfway out the Aleutian Islands, followed in Alaska. I turned on my phone after the flight. It said no service, no service. I didn't think your phone could say no service, but it did," Carr said.
He credited Sullivan's work with the administration for turning that around.
"We came out of our center of Sullivan, and he has worked hard to turn things around. We have brought hundreds of millions of dollars to the state. Thousands of people are newly connected. We have high-speed internet going across the state," Carr said.
'We Can Finish the Job'
Carr said the new funding round would not close the gap on its own, and committed the commission to the remaining work of reaching every Alaskan who is still offline.
"But the job is not done. We are committed to working with Sullivan until we can finish the job of getting every single person in Alaska connected to high-speed internet," he said.
The announcement pairs the largest state in the union with one of its thinnest connectivity maps. Alaska's scattered villages, island chains, and roadless interior make conventional buildout costly, and Sullivan has made rural broadband a central project of his Senate tenure.
The vote will come before the five-member commission this month. The $162 million would come on top of the hundreds of millions Carr said have already been directed to the state and the thousands of Alaskans who have been newly connected as a result.
Trump's announcement, delivered alongside Sullivan and Carr, framed the broadband push as an administration priority carried by the senator's advocacy in the delegation and the chairman's stewardship at the commission.
