Internet in the Arctic: the battle of the global superpowers to develop the network in this remote territory of Canada

The internet connection is “still very fragile, any setback can cause a massive blackout with which people can no longer send or receive emails, can no longer withdraw money from the distributor, or buy gasoline or food in the store “, explains Mayor Madeleine Redfern.

Iqaluit is not the only place wait for bandwidth powerful and reliable.

According to the Canadian government, approximately 5.4 million people, or 15% of the population, do not have high-speed internet.

Most of them live in the north of the country or in a rural area from a distance.

For decades, business investments to build digital infrastructure in rural and remote areas have lagged behind.

This means that although the rest of the country has entered the digital age strongly, places like Iqaluit are really behind schedule.

Solving the problem has become a key campaign promise of the Liberal Party of current president, Justin Trudeau, who hopes to be re-elected in the October elections.

The government has pledged to provide high-speed internet access to all homes by 2031.

In addition, last year’s budget provided a total of C $ 6 billion (US $ 4.5 billion) to help close this connectivity gap.

That number is attractive to companies competing for public funds to build everything in the North, from satellites to fiber optic cables.

“In this moment a real battle where and where it funds government investments: there’s a lot of money at stake, ”says Laura Tribe, executive director of the Internet advocacy group OpenMedia.

The long-term future of the Internet in Canada depends on the projects that get this funding and the people involved.

With so much information available, it’s easy to forget that the Internet is not an ethereal concept, but an impressive network of cables, data warehouses, and transmission towers.

And like any complex physical infrastructure, build and maintain internet it is not cheap.

In rural and remote areas, such as Canada’s Arctic Circle, this means that companies or governments have to spend a lot of money for a relatively small clientele.

Many communities in the north to depend almost exclusively satellites to be connected.

Their coverage is often patchy, long and expensive.

While some companies may see the northern part of the country as a headache, others, like Huawei, a tech giant with close ties to the Chinese government, see it as an opportunity.

Huawei Canada announced in July its partnership with local telecommunications companies ICE Wireless and Iristel to extend satellite coverage in 70 northern communities.

The project has been approved by CSE, Canada’s cybersecurity authority.

Such a challenge is in the spirit of the company.

Huawei is currently one of the leading providers of 4G wireless technology in rural America.

“Being the company that provides the essential infrastructure is a position of incredible power “, Tribe dice.

So the announcement too has woken up skepticism.

Canada has grappled with diplomatic tensions with China since the arrest, at the request of the United States, of Meng Wanzhou, Chief Financial Officer of Huawei and daughter of the company’s founder.

The United States wants the executive to be extradited to be tried on its territory for charges, including fraud, related to the alleged violation of sanctions against Iran.

Shortly after their arrest, Chinese authorities detained two Canadian citizens and They were accused of espionage.

This has raised fears that the Arctic will become the next battleground between the two nations.

Especially since Huawei risks being the single internet provider of great speed the region, says political scientist Michael Byers, whose research at the University of British Columbia focuses on northern hemisphere issues.

“That makes vulnerable to the region in the event of escalating tensions between Canada and China.

Huawei could be ordered to shut down these services, cutting off communications from the Canadian Arctic, ”he told the BBC.

As the rest of the world prepares for 5G mobile networks, several countries are debating the security implications of Huawei technology.

The United States and Australia have vetoed the company as a supplier of technology to their businesses, while India and the United Kingdom are considering a similar move.

The concern is that the company could use its 5G networks, which can carry much more data than current networks, to spy on foreign nationals at the request of the Chinese government.

Redfern believes this is a risk Iqaluit shouldn’t have to take on his own.

“There is currently enormous political and trade uncertainty with China. We must be careful not to put ourselves, our country and the citizens of the North at risk just because Canada is not ready to make the heavy investment necessary in northern regions, ”he said.

Byers believes a solution to these problems could come from space, not China.

Floating just 2,000 km above the planet, satellites in the lowest part of Earth’s orbit provide Internet much faster than satellites older technology, like the one Huawei will use in the north.

In the coming years SpaceX, the British startup OneWeb and Amazon will launch their own satellites in the lower part of Earth’s orbit.

And in July, the Canadian government announced that will invest $ 85 million in a Canadian satellite company for this part of Earth’s orbit, Telesat.

But Byers is concerned that Huawei’s project in the north could block this new and better technology before all of these companies start to serve.

“Huawei will enter the same communities with a low-cost and low-tech version, and that will also come first,” he said.

Canada is not the only country struggling to bridge the digital divide.

There are unconnected areas in remote areas of Brazil, Mexico and India, and even in the UK.

And many companies, including Huawei, are ready to help in this area.

Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Facebook They have also started projects to connect people in developing countries.

“Getting more people online means having potential users on Google and Facebook products,” says Ramesh Srinivasan, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, whose new book examines digital democracy issues around the world.

With almost everyone in developed cities connected to the Internet, the rural areas and developing countries they are among the last untapped markets for Internet service providers.

In the case of Huawei, there is not just one economic, but political incentivesays Adam Segal, director of the cyberspace and digital policy program at the Foreign Relations Council of Canada.

“I think the Chinese see cyberspace and the digital environment as crucial, and they want to make sure they can shape it in the future if they need to,” he said.

But Canadians living in the north of the country do not have time to think about the future as they fight for their present.

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