Pacific Dataport’s New Gateway in Utah Brings Rural Alaska One Step Closer to Affordable Broadband
Pacific Dataport, Inc. (PDI) has signed agreements to begin construction of the Aurora 4A earth station gateway in Eagle Mountain, Utah. The gateway will connect the Aurora 4A satellite, currently being built by Astranis, to the main internet and provide high speed, broadband communications service across Alaska. The construction of the gateway is a key milestone in service-readiness for the Aurora Project. The next step is the launch of the Aurora 4A satellite planned for 2021 on a SpaceX rocket. PDI is working as fast as possible to meet the increasing demand from Alaska consumers.
Chuck Schumann, Pacific Dataport CEO, said, “PDI is excited to have achieved this milestone and we look forward to completing construction of the gateway early next year. Bridging the digital divide in Alaska is our number one priority. We can do this by building middle mile and making it available to all of Alaska’s tribal entities, schools, clinics, and telecoms. We are delighted to be locating our first gateway at LBiSat’s new Eagle Mountain facility and bringing our goal one step closer to reality.”
PDI was founded with the sole purpose of bringing connectivity to all of Alaska, communities with which we have strong ties. The Aurora Project will ultimately deliver broadband to the 20 percent of Alaskans throughout Alaska who have no connection to the internet for about $100 per month.
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New Oil on the North Slope
August 2026
In mid-May it was 19°F and windy at the Aurora Hotel in Deadhorse. As I stood in the parking lot surveying the surroundings, I chatted with a gentleman from Texas who works for Nabors Alaska Drilling and was in town as part of a crew tasked with getting a previously inactive drill rig up and running. He said that, according to his supervisor, spring is the windy season on the North Slope. The gusts were bracing, numbing the fingers holding my camera, but most of my attention was focused on what I could capture through the lens: work trucks, shipping containers, buildings obscured by snow whipped up by the wind.