Feds Support Northern Broadband

Fifty-six remote communities across Northwest Territories and Nunavut will soon benefit from enhanced broadband access, which will improve community sustainability in Canada’s North.

Diane Ablonczy, secretary of state (small business and tourism), on behalf of Lawrence Cannon, minister of transport, infrastructure and communities, along with Darrell Ohokannoak, chairman of the Nunavut Broadband Development Corp (NBDC), and Darrell Beaulieu, president and CEO of Falcon Communications GP Ltd, today announced federal support of $36,415,295 for the expansion of broadband access across communities in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories in Canada’s North.

The projects in Nunavut and NWT will support enhanced satellite bandwidth management tools, the procurement of satellite capacity, and the upgrading of satellite networks to improve internet access in 31 communities in NWT and 25 communities in Nunavut (approximately 3.2 million square miles). In addition, these upgrades will address many of the critical issues that these remote communities face such as improved delivery of health and education services, telebanking and access to government services.

Of the total federal contribution, $21,601,175 will be provided to the Nunavut project and $14,814,120 will be provided to the NWT project. Federal funding for the projects comes from the National Satellite Initiative (NSI), which was created to make affordable satellite capacity available to communities in remote areas of Canada. The NSI is under the sunsetting Canada Strategic Infrastructure Fund (CSIF).