The Alaska Communications System (ACS) operated as a military telegraph line in Alaska from 1900-1969. General Adolphus Greeley, became an early advocate for a reliable Alaska communication system after returning from an 1882 Arctic exploration expedition during which he discovered that it took an intolerable length of time for messages to reach Washington, D.C.

The need to police the Alaskan gold rush (1898-1900) also focused attention on Alaska's communication needs. In 1900, Congress allocated funds to link Alaska's army posts by a system of military telegraph and cable lines known as Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System (WAMCATS) under the U.S. Army Signal Corps. General Greeley was designated Chief Signal Officer. Lt. Billy Mitchell mapped 2,000 miles of the route that ran south along the Pacific Coast at Valdez and west from the Tanana and Yukon to Nome.

By 1903 there were six telegraph circuits including 559 miles of line between Fort Gibbon at Tanana and Fort Egbert at Eagle City. Also at this time, headquarters at Fort St. Michael began telegraphic communication over 2,500 miles to the United States. By 1915 there were 55 WAMCAT stations.

The depression caused the closing of a number of stations. Expansion had increased largely to serve the civilian population. WAMCATS remained under control of the Signal Corps, but in 1936 the name was changed to Alaska Communications System.

The original ACS group numbered about 100 men, but by World War II it had grown to more than 2000 as it expanded again for military communications. It linked military posts in the Aleutians to main headquarters at Adak, Kodiak, and Anchorage. Lines composed of 72,000 poles covering 2,020 miles along the Alcan Highway were constructed. By the 1950's ACS had 33 combination military-commercial installations and 7 branch offices in Alaska.

In 1969 Congress authorized the Air Force to transfer authority to private industry. RCA Alascom purchased the system for $28 million. In 1970, the state began to regulate the industry and created the Alaska Public Utilities Commission and the Office of Telecommunications in the governor’s office.