SSI Micro pulling out of small communities
Nahanni Butte, Trout Lake among 10 to lose AirWare service
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, July 23, 2015
TTHENAAGO/NAHANNI BUTTE
Internet users in Nahanni Butte and Trout Lake have one less option to choose from, now that SSI Micro has dropped its AirWare service.
SSI Micro challenged Northwestel's ability to offer retail Internet for what it describes as less than wholesale rates with an appeal to the CRTC. - NNSL file photo
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Nahanni Butte finance officer Roxanne Konisenta said the band is looking at options to replace AirWare and will need to arrange service with another company before Aug. 10. She said there has been little detail provided on the service change.
"It's going to be a big change. The locals in the community are going to have to figure out what they're going to do in their own homes for Internet service," she said.
"I'm not sure how aware (the community) is of AirWare no longer providing service."
She said she received an e-mail from SSI in June notifying her of the service changes, but fears many community members who may not check their email frequently would have missed the memo.
The company announced to its customers that the shutdown would commence on July 19.
Aside from Nahanni Butte and Trout Lake, affected communities include Colville Lake, Deline, Lutsel K'e, Paulatuk, Gameti, Sachs Harbour, Ulukhaktok and Wekweeti.
Dean Proctor, chief development officer with SSI Micro, said the shutdown leaves Fort Providence as the only community where AirWare is still being offered.
SSI Micro made the decision to pull AirWare after several years of operating at a financial loss in smaller communities across the Northwest Territories. The company describes AirWare as an advanced satellite and wireless network used to deliver broadband Internet services.
Proctor said AirWare's financial troubles can be traced back to the expansion and upgrading of competitor Northwestel's fibre network and microwave radio infrastructure.
"One by one, we were seeing a loss of customers, but not a loss of the cost of operating in these communities," he said.
"We just could not make any money. We were losing money month after month in each of these communities."
Proctor said the issues have been going on for years. In 2014, the company pulled AirWare from Behchoko, Fort Simpson and Hay River.
"We did not want these communities to lose high-speed Internet service. Not only should each community have quality Internet, there should be a choice of quality Internet providers," he said.
"At a certain point, you have to make a decision. After several years of losing money in these communities and generally trying to make a go of it, we just had to pull the pin and make the difficult decision ... We're not happy about it at all."
In 2006, SSI Micro used matching funding from Industry Canada to expand its high-speed Internet services to 31 communities throughout the Northwest Territories.
More recently, however, Northwestel has been offering services at prices SSI Micro cannot match.
Proctor said SSI Micro has filed complaints with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) against Northwestel for what it sees as unfair pricing.
"We have a file in front of the CRTC as we speak because we believe Northwestel is carrying on practices of, to be blunt, predatory pricing," Proctor said.
"(They are) quite literally running us out of business."
Northwestel's spokesperson Adriann Kennedy stated in an e-mail that the company "wholeheartedly rejects" that characterization of their pricing practices.
"Internet prices in satellite-served communities are not currently regulated by the CRTC," she said.
"The suggestion that CRTC-regulated pricing affects services in places like Nahanni Butte and Trout Lake is simply false."
She added that Northwestel has received a federal operating subsidy from Falcon Communications since 2012 to establish Internet rates in smaller communities comparable to those in Yellowknife.
"Our partnership with Falcon Communications is on the public record and is the result of a successful, competitive process," she said.
"Northwestel is proud to have been chosen over others to partner with them in providing quality Internet to communities like Nahanni Butte and Trout Lake at reasonable costs. That will continue to be our focus moving forward."
Applications before the CRTC are public domain. On Nov. 19, SSI Micro filed an application asking the CRTC to review Wholesale Service rates. In its application, SSI Micro accuses Northwestel of "managing" competition and "thwarting competitive alternatives through egregious and predatory pricing of wholesale services such as Wholesale Connect."
Northwestel filed a response on Dec. 19 which said SSI Micro's claims are based on "misleading and erroneous analysis."
"Northwestel notes that the Wholesale Connect rates were thoroughly vetted by the commission and were established at levels that were determined by the commiSSIon to be appropriate," the company said.
