Iqaluit councillors get schooled on Arctic Fibre

This map shows Arctic Fibre’s proposed route through the waters of the Canadian Arctic, including a connection through Hudson Bay. (FILE IMAGE)

Arctic consultant and former Iqaluit mayor Madeleine Redfern appeared before Iqaluit City Council May 23 to answer questions and ease concerns about Arctic Fibre Inc.’s proposal to connect Nunavut to an undersea cable running between Europe and Japan.

“There was a lot of misunderstanding or misinformation about not only this project, but the technology,” she said, adding that some of the questions from councillors at the meeting were “very indicative of some of the unfamiliarity” that Nunavummiut may have.

She said the fibre-optic cable would bring high-speed broadband internet and improved telephone connections to the territory as an alternative to satellite technology, which is slower and more prone to interruptions in service.

The Arctic Fibre plan would connect the territory’s communities to an undersea fibre-optic cable that would be laid on the seafloor through past Nunavut, between Europe and Japan.

Redfern, who now works for Arctic Fibre Inc. through her consulting firm, said she found council to be “almost completely unfamiliar with the project,” even though it has been in the works for four years.

“Fibre optic technology has been in existence for over 50 years,” she said from her office in Iqaluit.

Extensive undersea fibre-optic networks that span the globe already exist, and “many jurisdictions in the world are already connected.”

Redfern’s role through her consulting firm is to provide information about the project to communities and decision-makers.

A “landing application” to connect Iqaluit to the network is in the works, Redfern said.

“It’s important for us to make sure that the key decision-makers are familiar with the project,” she said.

Iqaluit city council needs to be involved because the connection involves bringing a fibre-optic line into the city at a landing spot.

The cable will stretch from London, U.K. to Asia via the Northwest Passage, and through Hudson Bay to Montreal and New York City.

“Because of its immense capacity and speed,” fibre optics are “the technology of choice to transit calls and data between continents and or over long distances,” Redfern said in a frequently-asked-questions, or “FAQ” document prepared for city councillors.

Arctic Fibre’s $600 million project is slated for completion by November of 2015.

Arctic Fibre would initially reach 52 per cent of Nunavut’s population without any government subsidy, Redfern said.

Connections to remaining communities in Nunavut “will require government and community support,” she said.

The company is in discussions with the federal government to help offset the estimated $230 million cost of connecting fibre to those communities, Redfern said.

And Arctic Fibre would build the network and sell bandwidth to Internet service providers, cable TV and telecommunications companies such as Northwestel and Qiniq. Those ISPs would determine services, speed and prices for their customers.

“These companies, if they choose to purchase fibre optic bandwidth from Arctic Fibre, will determine the services and speeds they will provide to their customers,” Redfern’s FAQ document states.

“Many countries are recognizing stable, high-quality high-speed internet is absolutely necessary to keep up with development and the economic opportunities,” Redfern said May 24.

“Right now even the government of Nunavut struggles,” she said, noting that “freeze-ups” on networks, such as the Government of Nunavut’s, are common.

Exchange of data in regular work hours is often impractical, she said.

“They’re having to send large file or receive large data after-hours, so you pre-schedule the sending of large digital files in the evening,” she said.

“We’re still in the situation where a lot of people actually end up sending their digital files by thumb-drives.”

Nunavut “lags seriously” behind the telecommunications service and infrastructure, not just compared with Canada but also the other territories.

“There’s fibre in the NWT and in the Yukon,” Redfern said.

“It would be a shame for the cable to be laid through our region and not be connected to it.”