GCI Petitions for Tweaks to Alaska Population-Distribution Model

Better modeling of where Alaskans live within census blocks or polygons would give a better picture of GCI’s compliance with its Alaska Plan mobile commitments, the company said Monday in docket 16-271. It petitioned for a waiver or modification that would let it use the broadband serviceable location fabric in the Alaska population-distribution model in certain circumstances. "Wireless networks are built to serve where the people actually are, which will be more accurately reflected by adopting these changes," it said. GCI also asked for a change to the Alaska Plan's overperformance waterfall, so that if the company overperforms relative to its fiber or LTE commitments, the excess populations "waterfall down" to the next performance tier.