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NWT telco seals 3G deal in China Ice Wireless-Iristel upgrading from 2G network to compete against Bell MobilityThandiwe Vela Northern News Services Published Friday, Sept 21, 2012
Premier Bob McLeod was on hand Tuesday as Ice Wireless and Iristel Inc. - the telecommunications companies that have teamed up to end NorthwesTel Inc.'s monopoly of the Northern telephone market - signed a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract with Huawei Technologies Co. to provide 3G cellular services in the North. "It's definitely something we're very proud of - it's a milestone for the company," said Cameron Zubko, executive vice-president of Ice Wireless. Weather permitting, 30 antennas purchased as part of the deal will be installed in communities over the next year to upgrade the Ice Wireless 2G network to the more modern third generation network, starting with the communities where Ice Wireless already operates, which include Yellowknife, Behchoko, and Inuvik. The 3G, or third generation equipment Ice Wireless-Iristel is acquiring from Huawei is on par with the equipment used by competitor Bell Canada Enterprises - the parent company of NorthwesTel Inc. - the only company currently operating a 3G network in the North, said Zubko. "It's going to provide competition for Bell Mobility and it's going to provide leading edge cellular and data service for Northerners," Zubko said. "So we plan to get out there and get aggressive and win new customers. "I think in the end, the consumer will ultimately benefit. With two 3G cellular companies competing for their business, there's going to be more money left in their pocket because competition drives down prices." While the company was not an official part of the NWT delegation on the council mission in China Sept. 13 to 20, the stop at a Huawei wireless research and development facility in Shanghai coincided with the signing of the deal with the Northern carrier, and McLeod witnessed the signing and commented on the development. "Providing all people of the Northwest Territories with better telecommunications infrastructure is a priority for this government," McLeod stated in a news release. "Better access to advanced cellular services and broadband Internet will enhance our competitiveness, create higher value-added jobs and make new business models possible." Zubko said the upgrade from 2G to 3G is only now possible because of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's opening up of the Northern telephone market to competition, and increased attention being paid by the national regulator to bandwidth costs in the North. "As the price of broadband comes down you're going to see more investment in the North in the area of telecom," he said. Bell rolled out 4G LTE - the fastest mobile wireless technology currently available in the world - in Yellowknife last December. Telus Corp. followed suit, launching 4G LTE in Yellowknife earlier this year for its subscribers in the south, who work and do business regularly in the city, through a network-sharing agreement with Bell. Short for fourth-generation long term evolution (4G LTE), the technology offers data at speeds up to 75 megabits per second, compared to wireless bandwidth speeds of up to 7.2 megabits per second offered by 3G, or third generation universal mobile telecommunications service (UMTS) standards to be offered by Ice Wireless-Iristel. Ice Wireless-Iristel deliberately chose an upgrade to 3G, over the much faster 4G LTE network, because 3G is available in more places across the country, Zubko said - noting the equipment being purchased from Huawei, can be upgraded to LTE with software. The upgrade to 3G from 2G does not impact Ice Wireless-Iristel's plans to offer fixed line telephone service in the North. The company's planned roll out of Voice over Internet Protocol residential and business phone service is still undergoing interconnection to NorthwesTel's existing network.
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