Federal government balks at backing Arctic Internet project

OTTAWA — The head of a company trying to lay a broadband fibre optic cable along the Northwest Passage — a project that would connect Tokyo to London — says the project may not go ahead unless the Canadian government becomes a major customer.

After three years of lobbying — and an appeal directly to Prime Minister Stephen Harper — the federal government doesn’t appear ready to do what Arctic Fibre is asking it to: Switch over three-quarters of its Internet services in the North to broadband cable from satellite services.

“To date we’ve been unable to secure orders from the federal government,” said Arctic Fibre CEO Doug Cunningham.

“There has to be some sort of government support to make it economically viable.”

The project calls for a 15,000-kilometre undersea cable running from Japan to the coast of Alaska, then under the sea ice across Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and northern Quebec, known as Nunavik, before heading across the Atlantic Ocean to the U.K.

The main cable — the backbone of the network — would have landing spots at seven northern communities, including Cambridge Bay, Iqaluit and Cape Dorset and reach about half the population in Nunavut.

Once the cable is in place — scheduled for summer 2015 — it wouldn’t be disturbed for 20 years, according to the plan.

The total cost is estimated to be at least $600 million. Installing extra branches on the backbone to connect more northern communities, possibly as much as 98 per cent of the population in Nunavut and Nunavik, could add $300 million to the bill, Cunningham said.

Internal government documents suggest the project’s proponents have been rebuffed in attempts to gain government backing.

The government does not want to appear as if it’s playing favourites, according to Cunningham, and is reluctant to back one private player, not others.

A spokesman for the prime minister said politicians won’t make decisions about what Internet services the government uses in the North.

“The government of Canada procures telecommunications services through competitive processes, run by public servants. These processes result in the most suitable service being procured for the lowest price, without the need for political intervention,” said spokesman Carl Vallée.

Arctic Fibre first approached the government in 2011 about financial backing. Cunningham’s group was looking for government support for a project that if completed would provide broadband Internet to about half the population in Nunavut.

A January briefing note to the president of Shared Services Canada noted that “all network connectivity in northern Canada is provided through satellite services,” which can be 10 times the cost of cable Internet “and is limited in capacity.” At the time, Cunningham wanted “a firm, formal commitment, in order to guarantee future business.”

The department wasn’t ready to provide that commitment.

Original Article
Source: ottawacitizen.com/
Author: JORDAN PRESS