Arctic fiber cable proposed to link Asia and Europe

Image by Polar Cruises via Flickr

Mia Bennett | Eye on the Arctic | Jan 29, 2012

At this year's Pacific Telecommunications Council conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, there was much talk about a potential subsea, optical transmission cable that could be laid under the Arctic Ocean, thanks to the melting ice cap.

Network World reports that with such a cable, internet, voice, and private traffic could flow directly between Asia and Europe, doing away with the need to pass through North America.

The Toronto Star and Nunatsiaq News have more details on the proposed 9,700-mile Canadian cable, which would run between London and Tokyo via the Northwest Passage and above Alaska. Northern China, Japan and Northern Europe would have a lower latency connection between them, which could be beneficial for... http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/arctic-fiber-cable-proposed-link-asia-and-europe

In the orb...

Anchorage Medicare clinics short of patients

Offices opened when doctors began refusing older people.

By ROSEMARY SHINOHARA

Anchorage Daily News

Published: January 30th, 2012 05:44 AM 

Last Modified: January 30th, 2012 05:45 AM

Medicare patients flooded two new clinics targeting the older population when they opened in Anchorage last year -- most other primary care doctors wouldn't take the federal insurance for seniors because they say Medicare pays too little.... http://www.adn.com/2012/01/29/2290002/anchorage-medicare-clinics-short.html