DENINU KU'E/FORT RESOLUTION
Fort Resolution is next in line among NWT communities to get cell phone service. That will happen on March 6.
Peter Mandeville, left, Jeremiah Lafferty and Dakota Lafferty, students at Fort Resolution's Deninu School, are excited that cell phone service is coming to their community this week. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo
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Service on the way
The following is a list of NWT communities which will be receiving cell phone service over the next 18 months.
- Aklavik
- Behchoko
- Colville Lake
- Deline
- Fort Good Hope
- Fort McPherson
- Gameti
- Jean Marie River
- Kakisa
- Lutsel K'e
- Nahanni Butte
- Paulatuk
- Trout Lake
- Tsiigehtchic
- Sachs Harbour
- Ulukhaktok
- Wha Ti
- Wrigley
- Wekweeti
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"It's great to have cell phone service in the community," said Chief Louis Balsillie of Deninu Ku'e First Nation, noting Fort Resolution residents have been waiting and hoping for the service to arrive for a long time.
Jeremiah Lafferty, who attends Deninu School, put it more succinctly when asked what he thinks about cell phone service coming to Fort Resolution.
"I think, finally," said the Grade 7 student.
Fort Resolution will be joining a number of other smaller NWT communities which recently acquired cell phone service – Fort Simpson and Norman Wells in December, Fort Providence on Feb. 20 and Tulita on Feb. 27.
The extension of cell phone service in the NWT is part of an initiative involving Northwestel, Infrastructure Canada and Falcon Communications.
"We're implementing a 4G (fourth generation) wireless network across the Northwest Territories and we're starting with these communities," said Joel Witten, associate director of marketing with Northwestel in Whitehorse, Yukon.
In previous years, it used to be that some communities were considered too small to have cell phone service, but Witten said that is no longer the case.
"So we will be enabling cellular service in the next 18 months in all communities in the Northwest Territories," he said.
Witten explained the service can now be offered in smaller communities because of new technology and falling prices of components.
"And I think in a lot of places in the Northwest Territories there is a lot of demand for this," he said. "As a company, Northwestel has always been interested in extending these services as far as we can."
The new service provides access to cell phone technology similar what is used in southern Canada, Witten noted. "What it enables is customers to have the ability to use iPhones and the new Blackberry Z10 and Samsung S3, the hardware that people are excited about. That's the latest handsets that people are using everywhere."
Two representatives of Northwestel will be in Fort Resolution on March 6 to introduce the community to the new service.
"They'll be at the Northern Store and they'll be offering special introductory pricing," Witten said. "They'll be bringing handsets with them. The Northern Store will be our dealer in the community."
Witten noted the reaction in other communities receiving cell phone service has been very positive according to Northwestel representatives.
"They've been really happy with the response," he said. "People are really pleased. They're excited about this technology in their own communities. They're interested in the technology and in the handsets. I think they're feeling like it's kind of appreciated that now they can do this in communities of that size. They have the exact same thing that folks have across the country."
In January, Northwestel, Infrastructure Canada and Falcon Communications announced an additional 24 communities in the NWT would have access to enhanced mobile Internet services. The initiative will also support and enhance broadband Internet service for 31 communities.
The enhanced wireless service provides faster data transfer speed and more capacity, allowing residents and visitors to use the latest wireless devices, tablets and smart phones. The technology also allows customers to fully use the capabilities and features of the most modern and popular wireless devices, such as mobile Internet, texting, e-mail, music and video streaming, and cellular calling services.
The federal government is contributing up to $14.8 million to the initiative through the Canada Strategic Infrastructure Fund. Northwestel’s contribution is expected to exceed $15 million.
Falcon Communications has acted as the federal government’s community champion for the NWT Broadband Project since 2005.
