Canada - $1 billion for fibre in Arctic Nunavut - study

The Alaska Dispatch reports that a fibre optic system for broadband in Canada's eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut, would cost more than $1 billion to install.

The web site of the Nunavut Broadband Development Corporation has some very severe warnings from Google about Malware.

Nonetheless, the report is available.

The report recommends a back-up satellite in case fibre wires are broken.

see also Nunatsiaq Online notes:

“It is critical that concurrent investment in high-throughput satellite will be required to serve non-fibre linked communities, and to provide effective back up in the event of a fibre failure,”

It draws attention to some of the problems and challenges of undersea cables:

• protecting undersea cable from damage by ice, tides and commercial fishing;
• “scouring” damage caused by icebergs:
• the lack of accurate bathymetric information about the sea bottom and accurate nautical chart information;
• the potential cost of an environmental review and permitting activities, involving at leasat nine federal and territorial agencies;
• the problem of how to maintain and repair such a remote cable, especially under sea ice;
• the installation of local cable landing spots in communities with sensitive environmental areas;
• laying cable amidst difficult ice conditions;
• the high cost of such a system when compared with a “relatively small telecommunications demand profile,” which in plain language means Nunavut’s tiny population and limited ability to pay