Mobile customers face an upgrade
Beth Brown
Northern News Services
Monday, October 31, 2016
NUNAVUT
Qiniq customers are about to see their data packages get an upgrade.
SSi Micro is partnering with B.C.-based mobile infrastructure company Star Solutions to provide 4G-LTE service, the company announced Oct. 26.
"It's technology that, in terms of mobile and broadband, is as up-to-date and as high quality as what you would find in downtown Toronto," said Dean Proctor, SSi chief development officer.
The upgrade will cost around $40-million to create the added capacity and network upgrades needed to bring next generation 4G-LTE and GSM digital voice services to all Nunavut communities. Nine of 25 communities already have access to the service, as the network was launched on trial in April and used by customers who volunteered to adopt and evaluate the network and provide feedback, Proctor said.
"The old Qiniq network served us well but the technology is well over 10 years old. It was time to upgrade it," Proctor said.
Proctor said the small size of Nunavut communities also limited potential vendors for the contract, because most companies use equipment built to accommodate large populations, and don't have options to downsize.
Star Solutions specializes in providing mobile network infrastructure to remote or rural regions, according to a release. This specialty helps to mitigate limitations of Northern internet networks. Using a satellite backbone is a unique challenge for the company, the release stated.
