"This fiber optic cable has massive amounts of capacity," said Jeaneen McWilliams, manager of corporate communications for ACS.

How big? If Apple made a 2.6-terabit iPod, it would hold over a half-million songs. AKORN connects by land from Homer to Nikiski, and then underwater to Anchorage. The system also includes an undersea branch to Southeast Alaska.

ACS boosted its communications power even more when it announced last week it purchased for $70 million Crest Communications Corporation, owner and operator of the North Star submarine fiber-optic cable. That 1,900-mile system has cable landing facilities in Whittier, Juneau, Valdez and Nedonna Beach, Ore.

Mike Arno began excavation of the new ACS building last week. Criterion General Contractors is building the new structure, designed by Gary Spreng of Spreng Associates, Anchorage. Homer resident Gary Harris is the project superintendent. Tricity Concrete of Soldotna is doing the foundation. Electrical and plumbing bids have been received, but contracts haven't been signed, Harris said. Criterion expects to be hiring carpenters and laborers from Homer's experienced construction pool, he said. Criterion built the Alaska USA building across the street from the new ACS building as well as the McNeil Canyon Fire Station.

Spreng has been working as an architect in Alaska since 1972 and designed the Nikolaevsk School and an addition and an addition to the old East Homer Elementary School, now Paul Banks Elementary School. He said the ACS building went through the city of Homer planning process and meets the city's community design manual. It has features like a pitched roof and arched panels at the entry to accent the Sterling Highway side.

"It's going to be pretty nice looking," Spreng said.

Harris said construction should be finished by the end of September.

With its increased fiber-optic capability, ACS won't rely on leasing bandwidth from its competitor, General Communications Inc.

"Now we don't have to rely on the other company's fiber optic cables," McWilliams said. "Now we have our own."

GCI has a retail office across Greatland Street from the new ACS building. GCI has been doing upgrades to its cable system in Homer and will offer residential phone service soon.

The ACS cable landing isn't the only fiber-optic cable anchored in Homer. Another cable network, the Kodiak Kenai Cable Company, was put in at Bishop's Beach last summer. That network linked Anchorage, Homer and Seward to Kodiak.

With more bandwidth on the lower Kenai Peninsula and in Alaska, Homer could become attractive to companies needing high-speed communications.

"This is great for enterprise customers like banks that transfer massive amounts of data," McWilliams said. "The way of the future, it will be fiber optics connecting everybody's house," she added. "The bandwidth, the speed: we can't even fathom it now."

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.