Nunavik internet speeds doomed to lag

The speed of Nunavik’s internet service will continue to be many times slower than in southern Quebec, says the assistant director of internet communications at the Kativik Regional Government.

That’s because the satellite system doesn’t have the capacity to deliver the same speed levels that internet users in the South enjoy, Jean-François Dumoulin told regional councillors meeting in Akulivik this week.

During his June 1 update of the KRG’s Tamaani internet service provider, Dumoulin showed how the total capacity for Tamaani has increased several times since 2004.

But its total speed is still many times slower in Nunavik than in southern Quebec. For example, a 90-minute movie takes five hours to download in Nunavik, but only three minutes in Montreal, he said.

But to offer Nunavimmiut the same speed of internet via satellite that people in Montreal receive would cost $8,800 a month.

The satellite-based internet system also means there’s a transmission delay from .6 to six seconds per downloaded page.

This causes problems for real-time internet applications like tele-surgery or videogames. The delay also increases network traffic because information is retransmitted, Dumoulin said.

For long-term solutions, Dumoulin pointed to fibre optic cable and microwave towers.

A $150-million project using undersea fibre optic cables has already connected Greenland to the internet from Newfoundland, while similar technology now connects the Svalbard Islands with mainland Norway— a distance of 1,400 kilometres.

Microwave towers could also be used to bring higher speed internet to Nunavik, Dumoulin said, but these only cover a range of 80 km and each tower needs its own power supply— this would make maintaining the towers difficult, he told the regional council.