Executive Team

GCI Strategic Direction

By Ron Duncan, President and CEO

Alaska--the First Frontier

The story of GCI, the company that brought long-distance competition to Alaska, serves as a prototype of what is happening on a nationwide basis in the telecommunication industry. The artificial regulatory boundaries that have separated the telecommunication industry are being eliminated. As this happens, the industry will achieve unprecedented opportunities to offer new and innovative services and packaged products.

We are accustomed to thinking in terms of local telephone, long-distance telephone, internet, wireless and cable television services separately because that is the way the ownership of the assets is organized. However, the underlying transmission technologies are converging; and we believe the customer of the future will perceive very little difference between the various elements of the services.

Consumers will want communication services that are convenient, make sense and allow them to be connected to the rapidly changing world around them. The company that best meets this demand will be the company that is able to continually reinvent itself on behalf of the customer. GCI believes the best way to do this is through an integrated, end-to-end selection of services that are connected to one high-capacity network.

GCI is now poised to accomplish this goal by offering a complete selection of services within a single market. This capability is something that sets GCI apart from any other company operating in the United States. We have a core long-distance business that is approaching 50 percent market share; a statewide, wireless personal communication service (PCS) license; and a wired broadband network passing 85 percent of the homes in Alaska.

In a few years, this integrated combination of voice, data and entertainment services will allow GCI to offer any communication product that Alaska customers demand. That includes products that are current, as well as those only envisioned today.

GCI's mission is simple...to be the best Integrated Communications Access Provider (ICAP). We continue to believe that competition is good and it will continue to keep rates low and service high. GCI believes the time is right to move competition to the next step, and we believe we have the right tools to help Alaskans stay on the leading edge of technology, today, and into the future.