Catalina Island's long-promised fix for its notoriously spotty internet could lose its funding Thursday, as the California Public Utilities Commission decides whether to claw back or keep $37.5 million awarded to build a subsea fiber-optic line to the mainland. The vote, scheduled for 11 a.m., centers on allegations that the company tapped to build the project, AVX Networks, failed to meet basic grant requirements.
The commission awarded the grant to AVX Networks in December 2025 to install subsea fiber infrastructure intended to finally give the island fast, dependable internet, according to LAist. The proposed network would run fiber-optic cables beneath the San Pedro Channel from two points on Catalina Island to landings near Huntington Beach, eventually tying into the state's Middle Mile Broadband Network in Stanton. Catalina Island is home to more than 4,000 residents, per the same outlet, who have long relied on a thin wireless connection for everything from schoolwork to emergency calls.
Slow Internet, High Stakes
Catalina's internet troubles aren't new. The island's service has been described as slow and unreliable, with outages and lag affecting remote learning and emergency response, LAist reports. AVX Networks CEO Lance Ware has said the island depends on a very limited wireless internet link, a constraint that has shaped daily life for residents who also share the island with the thousands of tourists who visit each year, many arriving by ferry, as the outlet previously reported in its earlier coverage of the project.
Beyond daily annoyances, limited connectivity has been described as constraining telehealth, tele-psychiatry, remote diagnostics and real-time collaboration with mainland specialists, according to The Catalina Islander. The project is framed as part of a broader push under state Senate Bill 156, which committed $2 billion to expanding internet access in hard-to-reach California communities, as The Log has reported.
Allegations of Mismanagement
CPUC staff accused AVX Networks in July of violating federal spending rules, citing insufficient invoice justification and documentation, the station's report notes. CPUC records further allege the company had not demonstrated sufficient administrative, technical and operational capacity to deliver the project and had failed to comply with grant terms, according to CPUC agenda item records cited in the same account.
Ware disagrees. He has said he vehemently disagrees with the allegations and believes the company was denied a due-process and cure-and-correct period to address the concerns before the commission moved toward pulling the funding, per the same reporting. The dispute sets up Thursday's vote as a pivotal moment for a project that, until this year, had been moving forward largely out of the public eye.
Survey Work Already Underway
Earlier this year, AVX Networks entered the project's marine survey phase, deploying the survey vessel Bold Explorer in April to chart roughly 25 nautical miles of seafloor between Catalina Island and Huntington Beach, according to Submarine Telecoms Forum. That survey was meant to inform routing, engineering, environmental review, permitting and installation planning, the outlet reported. AVX Networks has listed a target service launch of 2028 on its own project materials.
If the commission votes to terminate the contract and withdraw the funding, Ware has said the project will be delayed but not stopped, and that AVX Networks would seek another way to finance the work. Estimates of how many locations the project would serve vary across sources: Broadband Breakfast has described the project as serving more than 1,185 currently unserved locations, while The Catalina Islander has put the figure at 1,125 unserved locations and 2,233 unserved units in the designated service area.
How Residents Can Weigh In
The public can participate in Thursday's CPUC meeting remotely, by phone, or through written comments. Those wishing to comment by phone can call 800-857-1917 and press *1 when prompted, while written comments can be submitted through the CPUC's docket page. Whatever the commission decides, the outcome will determine whether Catalina's bid for faster, more reliable internet moves forward on schedule or faces a fresh round of delay.
