Telecoms upgrades underway in Nunavik, set to launch this fall

Technicians install the fibre optic network in Kuujjuaq earlier this year. Although Nunavik still relies on satellite-fed internet, Kuujjuaq will be the northernmost community in Canada, and first in Nunavik to use a fibre-to-the-home technology, a local network designed avoid congestion on local wireless networks. Puvirnituq, Inukjuak and Salluit will also get their own networks this year. (PHOTO COURTESY OF TAMAANI)

Nunavimmiut should expect to see major upgrades to internet bandwidth, along with 4G cellular service by Oct. 1, the Kativik Regional Government-led Tamaani Internet said last week at its regional council meeting in Quaqtaq.

Work is already underway to update satellite infrastructure in region’s 14 communities that will bring Nunavik’s bandwidth up from 1.5 megabits per second to four megabits per second this fall.

Tamaani’s current backbone capacity is 300 megabits, said Jean-François Dumoulin, senior coordinator of programs at Tamaani; with the upgrade, it will be closer to 900 megabits.

“This a major upgrade,” Dumoulin said. “And we’re in really good shape to get things going on time.”

This fall, Tamaani will end its contract with Telesat and partner with a new satellite firm, SES.

But Nunavik’s major internet provider will maintain its contract with its Ontario-based internet gateway or teleport, K-Net.

That means Tamaani won’t have to change the region’s IP addresses, Dumoulin explained, which would have required renumbering each of its customers’ devices.

Over the next few months, crews will spend between four and five days in each community, preparing local infrastructure to switch over to SES. Dumoulin said crews will try to do most of the work at night.

“A big priority is for us to minimize the disruptions that will happen,” he said.

“It’s especially critical because we serve the nursing stations and hospitals in the region.”

The KRG has now okayed a final version of the Connecting Canadians agreement, which will provide $15 million in federal funding.

Quebec’s Société du Plan Nord, a provincial agency that oversees development projects in the province’s northern regions, will contribute another $11.5 to the project.

At the same time Tamaani is launching its improved service, Nunavimmiut will also see an infrastructure upgrade to support 4G mobile service — the region has only has access to 2G — although it’s unclear just when and who will deliver the service.

Makivik Corp., in partnership with Lynx Mobility, oversaw cellular service in a handful of Nunavik communities since 2010, but that agreement ended at the beginning of the year.

The third element of Nunavik’s telecoms upgrade is the installation of “fibre-to-the home” in four communities.

The local network still runs on a satellite feed, but connects users in the same community through fibre optic cable, to avoid congestion.

Kuujjuaq’s network is set up and ready to begin connecting customers this week, Dumoulin said, while Puvirnituq, Inukjuak and Salluit will see their own networks set up this year.

Despite the major work required for this latest overhaul, Tamaani only expects the bandwidth upgrade to meet the region’s needs until 2020.

Tamaani is already looking ahead to its next plans — likely be a move from satellite to a region-wide fibre optic network.

The Quebec government and the KRG have both made informal commitments to funding such a network.

“There’s been no funding announcement, but we’re very optimistic,” Dumoulin said. “It’s realistic to expect that it will be built in the next five years.”

Quebec is leading a feasibility study that will peg the cost and time-frame to install undersea cables that will make up the backbone of a fibre optic network, when Nunavik is expected to make the switch from satellite in about 2021.

A previous version of this article said Makivik Corp. planned to deliver cellular service to the region’s 14 communities later this year. Although that was the organization’s initial plan, Makivik is no longer involved in establishing a cellular network in Nunavik. Nunatsiaq News regrets the error.