Broadband wireless : Web connectivity is in huge demand in Nunavut
In a territory of almost 32,000 people – most under 25 – scattered across 1.9 million square kilometres with little in the way of transportation infrastructure, Internet access is an issue.
Web connectivity is in huge demand in Nunavut – for educational purposes, to aid industry and to keep people connected in an area defined by isolation, says Lorraine Thomas, the interim executive director of the Nunavut Broadband Development Corporation. Founded in 2003, the group set up its network, called Qiniq, with the help of a grant from the federal government to subsidize half the cost of the first 2,000 users. There are now 5,000 Qiniq subscribers and thousands more users in the territory's 25 communities.
Ms. Thomas says the necessary satellite broadband is expensive, and Nunavut is the only jurisdiction in Canada to rely solely on satellite for its Internet usage.
Qiniq is billed as high-speed broadband, but that's a bit of a misnomer, Ms. Thomas says: When not bogged down by thousands of users logging on at once, it runs at 256 kilobytes a second – five times the speed of wireless, but half the traditionally accepted definition of high-speed. This makes it possible to use Skype and take long-distance courses. But the territory's geoscientists and its nascent film industry, both of which need to send large, complex files, are largely out of luck.
The corporation received a grant last year from Infrastructure Canada covering four years of expanded basic services and half the costs of new subscribers beyond the initial 2,000. But she would like to see it made available (and affordable) to more people, with an expanded bandwidth.
Ms. Thomas argues the smallest, most remote communities present the most money-losing proposition to Internet providers, but they are also the ones who need Internet access the most, for everything from banking to education to marketing a service – none of which can be done in person.
“If we can't make it work in Grise Fiord, we can't make it work in Nunavut,” she says. “What options do you have for economic opportunities without the Internet? What options do you have for post-secondary education?”
Source : Globe and Mail
