UK company partners with Northwestel to expand Northern internet services

A UK telecommunications company is partnering with Northwestel to expand internet service to remote mining sites, small remote businesses, and governments in northern Canada.

Northwestel has signed a memorandum of Understanding with OneWeb, a low earth satellite communications company with headquarters in London. 

In the fall of 2019, the company pledged to build a satellite constellation that would offer a "fibre-like" internet experience for end users. OneWeb has launched 254 low earth satellites to date, and the company said it will be able to connect from the 50th parallel and above starting in November.

The company plans to launch a total of 648 satellites for global constellation coverage (see their YouTube channel for details on how it will work).

Curtis Shaw, president of Northwestel, said the partnership is one more way that the company can serve its enterprise business and government market.

"Largely what we're going to be using OneWeb for is for mines and remote customers that are not on our fibre network," Shaw said.

"We've got lots of locations in the Yukon that are off the grid, or away from a major road."

Eric Gillenwater, vice president with OneWeb, said the company wants to work with Northwestel because it understands the needs of northerners. 

He suggests the partnership has the "potential to change lives."

"We feel that these types of solutions, in a way, level the playing field between different companies, different communities and allows everybody to have common access to internet connectivity," Gillenwater said.

Gillenwater said in the future a whole community could use OneWeb's services if broadband satellite technology is needed.

But for now, he said schools that need distant learning and remote nursing stations across the North are the priority.