Federal gov't red tape ties up satellite work
Lengthy licensing process threatens Canada's potential for investment
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Thursday, June 8, 2017
INUVIK
"All these millions of dollars sitting here just looking pretty," maligns Tom Zubko, president of New North Networks, as he gives a tour of Inuvik's private satellite ground station set up off the Dempster Highway.
Tom Zubko, president of New North Networks, stands at Inuvik's private satellite ground station facility off the Dempster Highway. Six dishes at the station were completed last year, but not one is yet in operation, held up by the federal government's lengthy licensing process. - Stewart Burnett/NNSL photo
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"None of them are working."
Six satellite dishes, two operated by Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT), of Norway, and four by Planet, of the United States, have been completed and ready to go since October 2016, but all are still waiting for approval under the federal government's licensing system.
New North operated as a contractor to facilitate the building and maintenance of the station, and the company is planning to put in another 12 dome-type dishes over the next two years.
But that kind of investment could dry up if lengthy paperwork sends these companies to friendlier environments.
"We have a big issue with legislation and licensing," said Zubko. "We're dealing with some very outdated legislation on Earth observation."
The problem, he explained, is that Canada's legislation in this field was written in 2005 and was made to deal with the satellite operations of the time, which mostly consisted of large-scale government operations.
In that environment, licensing that takes two years might not matter much if getting a satellite up and running took several years itself.
But costs have fallen, and the private satellite industry is accelerating at a rapid pace, with companies such as Planet able to launch dozens of small satellites at once.
Planet actually wanted to use its Inuvik station to track the 88 satellites it put up on one rocket in February this year, but it couldn't because its license still hadn't been approved. The company is putting up another 48 satellites this July, hoping again it will be able to track them from Inuvik.
"People will go where there's certainty," said Zubko. "There are places in the world where these guys have gone and set up satellite dishes, ground stations and they've gotten everything processed in a month. In Canada, there have been applications for this station in the hands of the government for a year now, and they still don't know when they're going to get their license."
It's causing New North a lot of problems and it could cost Inuvik a substantial amount of foreign investment.
"We don't have a monopoly on ground station locations," said Zubko.
Going farther south means companies have to put up more ground stations to get the same coverage as in Inuvik, but they will do that if there's more cost and regulatory certainty outside of Canada, he continued.
"The impact of being able to put up a system and utilize it right away is the kind of thing that should distinguish this location in a positive way," said Zubko. "Right now it's having the opposite effect."
Other areas, such as Alaska or Iceland, offer much faster and guaranteed approval processes.
Paul Komaromi, marketing manager for New North, is hoping the Government of Canada can get with the times, and quickly.
"Canada is really lagging behind with how fast the industry is growing," he said.
"If they don't get this right, not only will we not be doing stuff like this, (but) we'll also lose our talent pool. In a global economy, especially in that sector, they'll go where the jobs are. That would be tragic."
Zubko said Inuvik should strive to be the most-wanted location in the world for this kind of activity. The town is positioned to be such a place.
A media relations officer for Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada responded to the Inuvik Drum's request for comment on satellite licensing but could not provide a further response to the Drum's questions by press time. A follow-up story will appear in the Drum next week.
