On Adak Island, the federal government is paying more than $340,000 a year for internet service that no one says they use.
Quick Take
- The Federal Communications Commission’s Universal Service Fund is paying for internet at an abandoned Navy base on Adak Island.
- Reporting found no island residents who subscribe to the subsidized service.
- Most residents now use Starlink, which arrived without an Federal Communications Commission subsidy.
- The case highlights how a rural broadband program can keep funding empty or underused infrastructure.
A costly subsidy on a nearly empty island
Reporting by ProPublica and the Anchorage Daily News found that the Universal Service Fund covers internet service for hundreds of buildings on Adak Island, even though almost all of them are empty and no one says they use the subsidized connection. The island’s population is tiny, with one estimate at 77 people and residents saying it is closer to two dozen. That makes the cost per person especially high.
The subsidy has become a symbol of how federal programs can linger long after the need has changed. Adak was once a naval hub, but the base is now abandoned, and the island’s internet use has shifted away from the old system. Residents told reporters they get online through Starlink, the satellite service that arrived in 2023 and is not part of this subsidy program.
Why the numbers drew attention
The Universal Service Fund is a major Federal Communications Commission program that helps pay for telecom service in high-cost places. Carriers contribute to the fund based on their interstate and international revenues. That structure was built to support remote areas, but this case shows the risk when subsidy rules do not match real-world use. Money can keep flowing even when buildings stand empty and customers are gone.
ProPublica reported that the subsidy works out to about $14,000 a year for each island resident, using the state’s higher population estimate. That figure is rough, because the true number of residents is disputed. Still, it underscores the scale of the spending compared with the small number of people left on the island. It also helps explain why the story drew fast national attention.
What the Adak case says about federal oversight
The Adak report fits a wider pattern that critics have raised for years: broadband support can stay tied to outdated maps, old contracts, and weak checks on whether service is actually being used. In remote places, those subsidies can still matter. But when they keep paying for empty buildings, the program starts to look less like universal service and more like automatic spending. That is the core concern here.
🔴 U.S. pays $340k/year for internet at abandoned Alaska Navy base with no users
Adak Island, a former Naval Air Facility closed in 1997, maintains a population below 100. The federal government pays an Anchorage firm $340,000 annually to provide broadband internet service to… pic.twitter.com/twC4yU2qrb
— NewsTongue (@NewsTongueX) July 21, 2026
There is also a practical problem for federal oversight. The public reporting describes the waste, but it does not publish the underlying FCC billing records or a formal agency audit that would settle every question about the subsidy structure. That leaves room for defenders of the program to argue that the service is required for maintenance or future use. It also leaves taxpayers with the same basic question: why does this payment still exist?
Sources:
taskandpurpose.com, benton.org, propublica.org, en.wikipedia.org, itu.int, sgp.fas.org
