Maria Canton
Northern News Services

Sanikiluaq (Mar 13/00) - Bob McLean is looking at eliminating the long distance phone call it takes to get online in Sanikiluaq.

As one of only six people in Nunavut's most southerly community who uses the World-Wide Web, McLean wants to hook up with a service provider in Hall Beach and offer residents a local number.

"Getting online will help us tremendously. There is a lot of interest from people with computers who would like to access the Internet with a local number," said McLean.

"The only option right now is a long-distance call to either Montreal or Iqaluit and that's very expensive."

At the moment, McLean is wading through the mounds of paperwork that he hopes will lead to funding from the Department of Sustainable Development. McLean says he's looking at an initial price tag of $8,000 to $10,000.

That amount would include installing the hardware and configuring the systems.

"The price changes depending on how many people you have who are interested in accessing the service. Right now I have had about 20 people who have expressed interest," he said.

"A long-range goal is to set up a community-access site."

In order to realize his plans, McLean will use the Internet service provider in Hall Beach, Sanirayak Internet Services.

Owner/operator Bryan Martin brought Hall Beach online almost a year ago and has been helping other Nunavut communities do the same.

"In order to get Sanikiluaq online from our system, it's just a matter of routing," said Martin.

"We'll provide the communication server, answer calls, providing routing and the e-mail will be based on the Hall Beach system, but it will only take seconds to access it in Sanikiluaq."

Martin says he has discussed the same venture with about 10 other communities in the territory and he notes that interest is growing.

"Using our service provider will eliminate the need for a tower system in the community and the need for someone to be maintaining the system," he said.

"The cost is about $13,000 in total to set up and the monthly costs are about $2,000. However, those prices are reduced because no one is needed in the community for maintenance."

Martin says both he and his Webmaster spend between 80 to 100 hours each week online doing touch-ups and upgrades to keep the systems running efficiently.