mtu is partnering with Northwestel, a Northern Canadian telecommunications company, to help provide reliable high-speed internet access to Nunavut, one of the most remote northern territories of the Canadian Arctic. 23 mtu Onsite Energy diesel generator sets are to supply emergency power. They will be delivered as part of a network infrastructure improvement plan designed to increase connectivity, including internet speeds and broadband capacity, in the territory’s communities.
“Projects like this one in Nunavut remind us how important connectivity and accessibility are to modern life,” said Brian Ponstein, regional sales engineer, mtu Onsite Energy. “We are very happy to provide the power necessary to ensure this connectivity is always available to this remote region of the world.”
As part of the Canadian government’s “Connect to Innovate” program, Northwestel developed a comprehensive plan to upgrade the region’s telecommunications infrastructure that includes the use of satellite technology with associated receiver dishes in each of the 25 Nunavut communities to increase bandwidth capacity. Each satellite-receiver pair will require backup power to ensure maximum uptime and guarantee service in the event of a power outage.
Nunavut currently has download speeds of 1-3 megabits per second. The goal, by 2019, is to increase those spends three-fold. Longer term, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the governing body responsible for regulating the broadcasting and telecommunications industries, will require all households in Canada to have download speeds of 50 megabits per second within the next 15 years.