KRG clarifies position on Internet plans

I want to respond to the misleading article entitled “KRG and co-ops duke it out over Internet access” which appeared in the February 1, 2002, edition of Nunatsiaq News. I also wish to take this opportunity to provide Nunavimmiut with an update concerning the KRG telecommunications project.

First of all, I did not go “on the local radio to explain why the KRG’s approach to providing Internet services in Nunavik is better than what the region’s co-operative federation has proposed” nor had I any intention to do so, much less criticize business decisions made by the FCNQ.

In August 2000, the Katutjiniq Board of Directors (composed of representatives from all major organizations of Nunavik including the FCNQ and the business sector) adopted a resolution supporting a telecommunications project proposal put forward by the KRG council for the implementation of technologies to allow Nunavik organizations, businesses and residents access to the Internet and related technologies. We have, since then, been working within the scope of this mandate.

The project is divided in two phases. During Phase I, we have connected most major organizations in Kuujjuaq to the KRG network and evaluated the performance of this new technology, which is in use in some communities of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

We have at the same time monitored the operating costs so that a realistic and sustainable business plan for all communities in Nunavik can be developed. The government of Quebec provided $350,000 to KRG for the pilot project. The Kativik Regional Government, Kativik School Board, Makivik Corporation, Air Inuit, Kativik Municipal Housing Bureau, the northern village of Kuujjuaq and the Kativik Regional Police Force are all connected to the KRG network in Kuujjuaq using wireless technology. Upon completion of the pilot project, a consultant selected by the government of Quebec was hired to assess the technology as well as the equipment purchased for the project.

The technical report, tabled in October 2001 to representatives of the governments of Quebec and Canada, demonstrates that the technology is very efficient, versatile and can sustain the various applications that the clientele of the region had expressed an interest in, including multi-point video-conferencing and private telephone networks.

Based on the report, an additional amount of $550,000 was granted by the government of Quebec to initiate the implementation of the same system in all other northern villages. KRG then purchased, through a public call for tenders, 13 satellite dishes, one for each community, and had them delivered on the last ship in the fall of 2001.

In October 2001, KRG began a Nunavik Internet needs assessment study in order to collect data on the current use and growth of Internet technologies in Nunavik. Between October 2001 and January 2002, regional organizations, municipalities, landholding corporations, businesses and more that 10 per cent of all Nunavik households were surveyed about their current use of Internet technologies and their future needs.

This report and a business plan will be tabled to the federal and provincial governments on Feb. 15 along with a request for funding in order to finalize the implementation of Phase II of the project. Depending on the response of the governments, the regional network should be in operation in the summer of 2002.

With the data that we now have in hand, it is clear that the implementation of Internet technologies in Nunavik will require substantial financial assistance from Canada and Quebec. KRG’s objective is to secure funding to enable all Nunavimmiut, regardless of the size of their community, to gain access to the Internet at the same time, and at a reasonable cost.

KRG’s objective is to provide equal opportunity to all those individuals or businesses who want to become local Internet service providers and sell Internet services within their community or throughout the region. Once connected to the KRG network, these service providers will have the choice of selling the service through wireless, cable or dial-up technologies.

We have no intention of being the local service provider, or of creating unfair competition with the FCNQ or the private sector. Indeed, we have offered to connect the FCNQ to our antennas, but they have refused because they want to manage the system from the satellite to the user, from one end to the other.

Therefore, in our mind, there is no fight between the FCNQ and the KRG about telecommunications. It is simply that we are proposing an Internet solution that offers more possibilities. Moreover, it responds to requests from many organizations and governmental departments to have the capability of video-conferencing, streaming audio and, potentially, local cellular telephone service, and our technology permits all of this.

Johnny N. Adams

Chairman

Kativik Regional Government