KUUJJUAQ, Que. – The more than 14,000 people (almost all Inuit) in all of 14 of Nunavik’s communities will soon be getting cellular and mobility data services thanks to an agreement between the Kativik Regional Government (KRG) and Ice Wireless.
The region, in the far north of Quebec (map photo from Tourism Nunavik) is one of the last regions in the country with no wireless service. “Taken for granted by most Canadians, this service will now be available as KRG-owned Tamaani Internet teams up with Ice Wireless,” says the Tuesday morning press release.
“The KRG, through Tamaani Internet, is continuously working towards strengthening telecommunications infrastructure in the region. This new agreement with Ice Wireless for cellular and mobility data services keeps us moving in this direction. The KRG remains strongly committed to reducing the digital shortfall between Nunavik and southern Quebec,” said KRG chairperson Jennifer Munick in the press release.
To get a sense of how far away this portion of Quebec is, the furthest north it appears you can drive in the province, essentially, is to Ile de Fort George on James Bay, about a 1,400-km journey north from Montreal. And when you get there you’re still more than 200 kms away from Kuujjuarapik, the southernmost community in Nunavik. To get there from Ile de Fort George, however, you’ll have to walk or go by boat. Or, you can fly to Kuujjuarapik from Montreal in three hours – about 10 minutes less than it takes to fly from Montreal to Orlando, Fla., according to Google Flights.
The community is currently served by satellite delivered internet, aided by the provincial and federal government, but with 3G/LTE technology coming from Ice, customers there will have (finally) services comparable to other Canadians like texting, apps, voice and Internet surfing on their smartphones.
“It’s difficult to understand how a segment of Canadian society still does not have access to cellular services in 2018,” said Samer Bishay, president of Ice Wireless, in that release. “We have made it our mission to end the digital divide that contributes to the isolation of northern communities and we will do this in Nunavik by demonstrating that, through innovative partnerships between socially conscious private-sector companies like Ice Wireless and forward-thinking government organizations such as the KRG, we can achieve together what individually we cannot.”
“This deployment of cellular services will allow Nunavimmiut to stay connected with family and friends, regardless of where they may be in one of the region’s 14 communities, or while in the south during business or personal travel,” Munick added.
For this agreement, Ice Wireless is providing its expertise, access to spectrum, national and international roaming and access to its parent company Iristel’s Canada-wide telephone network. The KRG, through its Tamaani Internet, is providing bandwidth and access to its local telecommunication infrastructure.
All smartphone plans will include unlimited calls, texts and roaming throughout Canada, United States and Mexico starting from $59/month. “Ice Wireless is the first Canadian carrier to eliminate roaming charges without daily or monthly add-on charges. Voice and text only plans start as low as $19 per month,” continues the release, which did not specify when the deployment will begin.
The KRG is a non-ethnic public organization created in 1978, under the James Bay and Northern Québec Agreement. The organization has jurisdiction over nearly the entire territory of Québec north of the 55th parallel in areas such as municipal matters, transportation, the environment, policing, employment, labour training, income security, childcare services, telecommunications, renewable resources, land-use planning, civil security and economic development, explains the release.
