SSi Micro spills details on new Nunavut cellphone plans

SSi Micro is launching a cell-phone network that should be available across Nunavut by the summer, with service soon to roll out first at Clyde River and Chesterfield Inlet. Above, a screenshot from the SSi Mobile website shows the different cellular phones offered by the company.

SSi Micro is rolling out 4G cellphone service across Nunavut by this summer.

The company announced on Thursday, Feb. 1 that it has begun offering this new service, called SSi Mobile, starting in Clyde River and Chesterfield Inlet—two communities not currently served by Nunavut’s dominant cellular operator, Bell.

Other communities will be added to SSi Mobile in the coming months, with the aim of connecting all of Nunavut at some point this summer.

Why launch the cellular service in two of Nunavut’s smaller communities first? Because “the smaller communities need them,” said Jeff Philipp, the founder and CEO of SSi.

He said the new offerings will make it considerably more affordable for Nunavut residents to own a mobile phone.

One feature, which the company is calling a “game-changer,” is that all calls within Nunavut will be treated as local, without long-distance fees. “We’ve always treated Nunavut as one community,” said Philipp.

All of the company’s plans also offer unlimited texting within Canada, as well as call display and voice mail.

SSi Mobile offers plans starting at $25 per month for 500 minutes of Nunavut-wide calling and 100 minutes of Canada-wide calling.

That bare-bones plan is geared towards customers with simple cellular phones that don’t use data.

For $50 per month, you get unlimited Nunavut-wide calling, 300 minutes of Canada-wide calling and 1GB of data. And for $80 per month, you get unlimited calling throughout Nunavut and Canada and 3GB of data.

SSi Mobile offers the following pay-as-you-go rates: five cents per minute for calls within Nunavut, nine cents per minute for calls within Canada, 11 cents per minute for calls to the U.S. and $3 per 100 MB for data.

SSi Mobile sells a basic Polaroid Link A2 flip-phone for $45, and two different smartphones: a Samsung Galaxy J1 for $175, or a Motorola G5 for $300. Customers are able to use their own unlocked device for $10.

SSi Mobile’s plans are month-to-month, and don’t require signing long-term contracts. Prices are to be the same throughout Nunavut.

SSi Mobile products will be available through the same community service providers who currently offer SSi Micro’s Qiniq internet service.

SSi Micro says it plans to soon announce roaming agreements, so that its cellular customers are able to use their phones outside of Nunavut.

The company says that the new service is possible thanks to $75 million it spent over the past few years improving its satellite backbone and last-mile infrastructure.