Matthew Bossons of Northwestel says the company is continuing to invest in expanding and improving connectivity across the North. Recently the company completed a fibre line between the Arctic communities of Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk.
“Connectivity has been a huge piece,” says Minister Lesa Semmlar, a sentiment that was also recently echoed by Minister Lucy Kuptana regarding internet technology applications for healthcare and emergency situations.
While some communities of the far North now have access to fibre lines, other communities are relying on satellite technologies alone, but that may change soon.
“With the recent completion of a fibre line between the Arctic communities of Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk, we have begun offering full FTTH internet services in Tuk with speeds up to 700 Mbps, a milestone in bringing world‑class internet speeds to more Northerners. Looking ahead, we are working to launch 1 Gbps service in additional communities, and we expect to have some more exciting announcements in the coming months,” says Bossons.
Minister Lesa Semmlar said that she recently travelled through the Nunakput region with Minister Lucy Kuptana and met within some of the communities that are the territory’s most remote.
“Connectivity has been a huge piece,” says Minister Semmlar, a sentiment that was also recently echoed by Minister Kuptana regarding emergency situations as well as medical care.
“If you drive through those communities, everybody has a Starlink on their house because that is the only connectivity that they do have that’s stable. So we have implemented that kind of as a backup in some of our (health) facilities and we’re I think we’re going to continue to just monitor that,” said Minister Semmlar.
“When we look at the fibre line, we would be connecting into the fibre line – in all of our communities that have the ability to – is where we want to be, because that I think is what is going to be and using these satellites as backup. However in our highest Arctic communities, those are on islands, way up in the coast where the fibre line doesn’t arrive to those. So we will always need a backup at using satellite internet in those communities,” added Minister Semmlar.
Bossons says the Northwestel has reached a major connectivity milestone the urban hubs of Whitehorse and Yellowknife who can access 1 gigabit per second internet speeds. The company says the Canada North Fibre Loop, operational for about one a year, is transforming network capacity for high speed internet access.
Bosom says the plan on providing the services to additional northern communities with gigabit service within the next few months. The company’s Every Community Project built fibre-to-the-home has brought service to over 40 communities across the N.W.T. and Yukon to date.
