Alaska United East (AU-East)

Overview

Alaska United East (AU-East) is a domestic submarine cable system operating entirely within the United States. With a total length of 3,751 km, it connects landing points in Alaska with a terminus in the contiguous United States, serving the coastal corridor between southcentral and southeastern Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.

Route and Landings

In Alaska, the cable lands at three points: Juneau, Valdez, and Whittier. These communities are spread across Alaska's southern coastline, with Valdez and Whittier situated in the Prince William Sound region and Juneau located in the southeast panhandle.

In the contiguous United States, the cable reaches Lynnwood, Washington, providing a connection point to the broader telecommunications infrastructure of the Pacific Northwest.

Ownership and Operators

AU-East is owned by GCI Communication Corp, an Alaskan telecommunications company that provides voice, data, and video services across the state. As the sole owner, GCI operates the cable to support connectivity between Alaska's coastal communities and the lower 48 states.

Status and Timeline

The cable entered service in 1999 and has been in operation since that time, providing submarine connectivity along its U.S. domestic route for over two decades.

Regional Context

AU-East is a relatively short domestic cable at 3,751 km, serving a geographically specific purpose within U.S. waters. The cables that share the United States as a landing country include long-haul transoceanic systems of a very different scale — among them the Southern Cross Cable Network at 30,500 km, GlobeNet at 23,500 km, and the Asia-America Gateway at 20,000 km. AU-East does not serve international corridors; instead, it addresses the particular challenge of connecting Alaska's isolated coastal communities to the rest of the country via submarine infrastructure, a function that overland alternatives cannot easily fulfill across the rugged terrain and waterways of the region.

Strategic Role

By linking three Alaskan communities — Juneau, Valdez, and Whittier — to Lynnwood in Washington State, AU-East supports telecommunications access in a part of the United States where geography makes terrestrial cabling impractical. The cable's concentration of Alaskan landings reflects the dispersed population centers along Alaska's southern coast and the practical need for submarine infrastructure to serve them. Owned and operated by a single Alaskan carrier, it represents a regionally focused system distinct from the large international cables that also touch U.S. shores.