Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So back in February, as the Member's mentioned, there was a request for an expression of interest issued. The point there being let's try to get a sense of what the costs would be. We knew they would likely to be high. But certainly it's good to have an update with some concrete numbers. There was only one respondent to the expression of interest, Northwestel. And then a letter was written to support them when they went out -- as part of the process they undertook, they went out under the Universal Broadband Fund to see what kind of funding opportunities there might be within that from the federal government. With that information in hand, they had some information around capital costs and capital coverage. But for them to be any further involved, they would be looking for a fairly significant public sector commitment. At a minimum, it would include some portion -- a small portion of the capital expenditure but, as I just mentioned in my last response, more notably a commitment over the course of at least ten years for a minimum of $500,000 a year, again in today's dollars, not accounting for inflation, just to maintain services on that one small stretch of highway, which in and of itself would make not a dent on any other highway anywhere else in the Northwest Territories. And so at that point, Mr. Speaker, this is where the project is deemed not to be one that falls within the current priorities but, again, looking forward to what might happen technologically to get us to a different place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Caroline Wawzonek on Question 1243-19(2): Highway Cell Phone Service
In the Legislative Assembly on October 27th, 2022. See this statement in context.
Question 1243-19(2): Highway Cell Phone Service
Oral Questions
October 27th, 2022
Page 4878
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