Yellowknife (June 09/03) - The group pushing broadband access in NWT hopes to start rolling out high-speed Internet in early 2004.

And it wants to have every community in the territory on the system by spring 2005.

The $14 million project would be "one of the largest community development projects ever mounted in the territory," said spokesperson Margaret Gorman.

"A lot of people don't realize just how big this is or how important it is to the development of the territory," she said.

Gorman heads a group of five community development corporations who have joined together as the Broadband Business Alliance.

They are the Denendeh Development Corporation, the Deline Land Corporation, the Deninu K'ue Development Corporation, the Dogrib Treaty 11 Council, and the Tetlit Gwich'in Band Council.

All five received seed money totalling $133,000 earlier this year from Industry Canada to prepare business plans for the provision of high-speed Internet.

"We will have the Deh Cho with us as well," said Gorman, also general manager of the Denendeh Development Corporation.

"We have been working with the Hay River and Fort Simpson bands and the plan is that they will come in as the Deh Cho Development Corporation."

The newly forged Alliance has prepared a single broadband access plan for the entire territory.

"We decided it would not be efficient to do a band-aid approach to the Northern infrastructure," said Gorman.

"It makes more sense economically and for sustainability that we come together."

The group was burning the midnight oil last week to get the plan to Industry Canada by the June 6 deadline.

The plan submitted includes federal "implementation funding" but Gorman wouldn't say how much the Alliance is seeking.

The maximum under the program guideline is 50 per cent.

"We would have to put some money into it and we are looking at financing approaches."

Preparation of the business plan cost more than $250,000.

Industry Canada participation was on a 50-50 basis with the groups receiving seed funding.

The Alliance has chosen Ardicom/NorthwesTel as service provider from a number of companies submitting RFPs in April, said Gorman.

"All of the other proposals involved pure satellite delivery, which makes sense in Nunavut but not here," she said.

"The choice was made on a technical, not a political basis."

The DDC owns eight per cent of Ardicom Digital Communications.

Gorman said the Alliance has disclosed that tie to Industry Canada and was told it doesn't conflict with the agency's "arms length" mandate for vendors.

The Alliance hopes to hear back from Industry Canada by Oct. 1, she said.