Usage caps would be doubled in Nunavut communities of Iqaluit, Arviat, Cambridge Bay and Rankin Inlet

By Jim Bell

To help northerners work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, northern Canada’s largest telecommunications provider, Northwestel, wants to offer temporary relief from home internet overage charges, the company said on March 16 in a news release.

But to do that, they need permission from the country’s telecommunications watchdog, the CRTC, which still regulates Northwestel’s prices.

“All Northwestel’s terrestrial internet packages and rates are regulated, and the proposed changes will only take effect with CRTC approval,” the company said.

To that end, Northwestel has filed what they call an “urgent application” to the CRTC, asking for permission to either raise or eliminate overage caps, depending on where customers live and the type of networks that serve them.

One category covers those communities that receive residential DSL internet service via satellite.

In Nunavut, this includes Iqaluit, Arviat, Cambridge Bay and Rankin Inlet, plus about 10 other communities in Yukon, the Northwest Territories and British Columbia.

For these customers, Northwestel proposes to double its monthly internet usage caps.

That’s because in Nunavut and other satellite-dependent areas, it’s not technologically possible to quickly increase capacity, Northwestel said.

But in the other category, which covers communities that receive residential DSL service via land-based cables, Northwestel is proposing to eliminate all usage caps for the months of March and April.

That’s because it’s easier for Northwestel to increase capacity in areas served by terrestrial networks.

This applies to most communities served by Northwestel in Yukon, N.W.T., northern Alberta and northern B.C.

“Northwestel has already began augmenting capacity to accommodate the expected increase in usage on its terrestrial network,” the company said.

And at the end of that two-month period, the company proposes to offer an “unlimited” option to those communities.

In its statement, Northwestel said the rates it charges for residential DSL internet in its service area do not come close to meeting the high costs of offering the DSL service.

To help defray those costs, Northwestel receives a subsidy from a fund that is created by contributions from Canada’s telecom industry—and the company wants that subsidy kept at last year’s level.

“Northwestel’s proposal therefore includes the CRTC freezing the subsidy for telecommunications in northern high-cost serving areas at 2019 levels to ensure adequate funding for northern telecommunications in this critical period,” the company said.

Northwestel’s request to the CRTC follows announcements from Canada’s biggest telecom firms, including Bell Canada, Rogers, Telus and Videotron, that they plan to temporarily suspend overage fees for residential internet customers.

That’s because numerous employers across Canada are now asking employees to do telework whenever possible.

This includes Nunavut, where Premier Joe Savikataaq said on Monday that territorial government employees are encouraged to work from home or to work flexible hours.

Northwestel is wholly owned by Bell Canada, but unlike Bell’s services in most of southern Canada, Northwestel’s operations in the North are subject to CRTC rate regulation.