The CRTC is prepared to provide the Kativik Regional Government of northern Quebec roughly $79.4 million – the amount it asked for – from the Broadband Fund to build undersea fibre transport infrastructure and five new points of presence.
The project will serve five Inuit communities in the north of the province – Aupaluk, Kangiqsualujjuaq, Kangirsuk, Quaqtaq, and Tasiujaq – encompassing roughly 707 households. The build will also connect 42 anchor institutions, such as schools and health care centres, and will link all communities in the entire Nunavik region.
The transport infrastructure will allow last-mile service providers to offer service to homes and businesses in these communities with the federal objective speeds of 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload.
In approving the funding from round three of the $750-million Broadband Fund, the CRTC said Kativik’s application meets the criteria for a technically sound, financially viable project, with third-party funding secured from other sources.
The government also received the support of the Makivvik Corporation, the legal representative for the Inuit in the Nunavik, as well as from Air Inuit, the Kativik Municipal Housing Bureau, the KRG Executive Committee, the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services, the community of Quaqtaq, and the Qiniqtiq Landholding Corporation of Kangiqsualujjuaq.
As a condition of receiving funding, the government must now submit within 10 days a statement of work package to proceed with the project and a completed statement of work package by November 19.
Kativik Regional Government Building in Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, Quebec, via KRG website
