Advertisement 1

Northwestel's upgraded satellite internet to roll out across Nunavut

Article content

IQALUIT, Nunavut — BCE Inc’s Northwestel says it will begin providing a faster satellite-based internet service for homes throughout Nunavut, starting with the territorial capital of Iqaluit on Oct. 1.

Upgraded broadband service to the territory’s 24 other communities will become available over the coming months, starting with Cambridge Bay, Arviat and Rankin Inlet.

The service upgrade is enabled by the launch of Telesat’s new Telstar 19 Vantage satellite this summer aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Advertisement 2
Story continues below
Article content
Article content

Northwestel’s upgrade received $49 million from a federal government program for improving internet access in rural and remote parts of Canada.

But even after tripling Northwestel’s current maximum speeds, the new service will be relatively slow and expensive compared with more densely populated markets.

The new maximum speed of 15 megabits per second, with 100 gigabytes of monthly usage included, will cost $129 per month.

By comparison, Bell Canada’s has a 25 mbps internet-only landline service in Ontario with 350 gigabytes of data for about $80 per month, before discounts.

Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)

Article content
Comments
You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments.
Join the Conversation

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

Latest National Stories
    This Week in Flyers