You Pay for Internet Service in Empty Buildings on Alaska's Adak Island — ProPublica

On a remote island in the Bering Sea, the federal government spends hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to provide internet to hundreds of buildings. Most of these structures are abandoned. Many are little more than skeletons of houses with broken windows and grass growing on the floors. This project continues because of a federal subsidy program meant to bring connectivity to rural areas, yet it fails to reach the few people actually living there.

Funding for these projects comes from fees added to the phone bills of everyday Americans. The Federal Communications Commission directs this money toward telecom companies despite records of mismanagement and fraud. In the town of Adak, Alaska, a local provider collects significant payments for services that no residents use. The island reached its peak population when the Navy maintained a base there. After the base closed in 1997, the population plummeted to fewer than thirty people.

Residents on the island now rely on private satellite internet. This alternative is significantly faster and more reliable than the fiber-optic service subsidized by the government. When investigators visited the island, they found that even the local telecom office uses private satellite equipment on its own roof. Despite clear evidence that the infrastructure serves no active customers, the public money keeps flowing into the company accounts.

The disconnect between federal policy and local reality remains extreme. While the FCC continues to authorize subsidies for hundreds of locations, the buildings themselves fall into decay. Some are little more than rubble piles or open shells exposed to the harsh Aleutian weather. The situation highlights a massive oversight in how public funds are managed for remote utility projects. Taxpayers continue to foot the bill for empty houses while federal regulators fail to provide answers on why these payments continue.