All-Indigenous consortium plans to buy Northwestel
Billion-dollar sale will make Northwestel largest telecommunications company with full Indigenous ownership, new owner says
An Indigenous-led consortium plans to buy Northwestel, a subsidiary of Bell Canada, the largest telecommunications provider in the North, Bell Canada announced Tuesday. (File photo)
A consortium of Indigenous organizations plans to buy Northwestel, the largest telecommunications provider in the North, in a deal worth up to $1 billion, the company’s owner Bell Canada announced Tuesday.
Sixty North Unity, a consortium of Indigenous partners, will make Northwestel the largest telecommunications company worldwide with full Indigenous ownership, according to a news release issued by Bell Canada.
Sixty North Unity is led by David Omilgoitok from Nunavut, Darrell Beaulieu from the Northwest Territories and Tiffany Eckert-Maret from Yukon.
The new ownership group said communities and businesses across the North will benefit from better connectivity because it plans to make significant capital investments to double internet speeds for fibre customers and offer Low Earth orbit satellite technology to deliver 50/10 Mbps speeds to 25 satellite-served communities in Nunavut.
Northwestel president Curtis Shaw called the deal a monumental step toward economic reconciliation.
“I can’t wait to see what advancements this new partnership will bring to northern Canadians,” Shaw said in Tuesday’s announcement.
“We’re grateful for the leadership and support we’ve received from Bell Canada over the past 36 years and can’t wait to embark on this new chapter with Sixty North Unity.”
Bell Canada said the company plans to use proceeds from the sale to pay down debt. The cash deal will be subject to adjustments and certain closing conditions, the company’s news release said.
Sixty North Unity intends to maintain the existing Northwestel team, including current president Shaw, and work toward an increase in Indigenous representation in the workforce in part through expanded training and mentorship.
“This acquisition allows us to take the lead in continuing to address the critical gap in telecommunications services in our northern communities,” Omilgoitok said.
“Expanded investments in fibre and Low Earth orbit infrastructure have the ability to transform the North and put us on equal footing with the rest of Canada.”
Heaven help us, what happened in the Kitikmeot Region before?? not sure about the other partners.
More information on Sixty North Unity please. It seems like this consortium was established solely for this purchase.
Who are the “Indigenous partners”? I’m guessing KIA/KC if David Omilgoitok is involved.
Amazing to have e tue confidence to jump to billion dollar internet provider from failed local hardware store.
Who will the partners be you ask? Don’t worry there will be signs .
The writing is on the wall for Nunavut. It’s gone the way of Starlink. I would think that its the NWT and Yukon pushing for this since NWT and Yukon are still mostly Nwtel customers on a fibre feed (YK + Whitehorse). Its likely NU Inuit are along for the ride.
The real billion-dollar question is why would Bell want to get rid of a winner? I very much doubt Bell Canada cares even a little bit about “economic reconciliation”.
It could be monumental, it could be monumentally catastrophic. I’ll grab some popcorn.
Yep, ‘economic reconciliation’ is about as performative as it gets.
I’m worried, should I be?
I.K.R.
Yaii-lukki.😱
starlink….