N.W.T. considers Starlink alternative, but some residents say it's just not as good

The Government of the Northwest Territories is assessing alternatives to Starlink — the American satellite technology that allows users to access high-speed internet from rural and remote locations — but locals say the territory's only option won't work. 

Starlink is run by SpaceX and owned by mogul Elon Musk, now a senior advisor to the U.S. president. Some governments are ending their Starlink contracts as Canada fights a trade war with the United States, and N.W.T. Premier R.J. Simpson said the territory is looking to follow suit. 

In the 2024/25 fiscal year the territorial government spent over $400,000 on Starlink, using the technology to support road crews and emergency responders across departments.  

But the territory is looking at only one alternative, U.K.-based Eutelsat OneWeb — and some N.W.T. providers say the company is too expensive and not as good as Starlink. 

Tom Zubko, owner of Inuvik internet service provider New North Network, said his company experimented with OneWeb during internet outages in the 2023 wildfires.

"It was not spectacular," he said. 

Zubko said the connectivity was not as good, and it was also significantly more expensive. 

"Certainly unsustainable," he said, though he wasn't sure of the actual figures. 

OneWeb uses low-earth orbit satellites — the same technology as Starlink — and describes itself as working to close the digital divide and support hard-to-reach communities that don't have internet access through terrestrial connection like fibre cables. On its website, the company says it strives to do that sustainably, treating space as a shared resource. 

"We do not want to borrow from the future to provide for the present," the site reads.

OneWeb already in 8 N.W.T. communities that use Starlink

Through Northwestel, OneWeb is already in eight N.W.T. communities not connected to fibre links or cables. Northwestel calls these communities "satellite communities."

But while Starlink has over 6,000 orbiting satellites, OneWeb has about 600 and users say the connection just isn't as reliable. 

Colville Lake is one of the eight satellite communities using OneWeb. Resident David Codzi says most residents still opt for Starlink. 

"Before all this politics happened, it was a good thing," he said. 

Starlink has been credited with keeping groups safe while on the land and helping residents access online classes and health services. During the 2023 wildfires, Zubko said that's how he serviced his customers. 

For the eight N.W.T. "satellite communities", Northwestel offers plans ranging from 10 to 200-gigabytes a month, for $42 to $130. Codzi said the connection is slow in Colville Lake and residents end up going far over their allotted usage and paying more. He said it just makes more sense to opt for unlimited data with Starlink, for $140 per month. 

He said he and other northerners want to support Canada in the trade war but when it comes to connectivity, there just aren't realistic substitutes for Starlink in his community.

"If there was something else that was more Canadian, that was something that could be relied upon, I think most people would like to jump over," he said.

Lyle Fabian says he's had similar experiences in other N.W.T. satellite communities. Fabian is the founder and CEO of Yellowknife-based telecommunications company KatloTech Communications. He says the service in Łútselk'e, also connected to OneWeb satellites through Northwestel, is poor and too expensive.

"The cellphone services are atrocious, the internet speeds are even worse," he said.

He says that's why the Native Women's Association of the N.W.T. secured federal funding to install Starlink in Łútselk'e households, something KatloTech helped set up. 

Gov't 'not aware of other alternatives'

OneWeb doesn't sell directly to consumers. That means the territorial government would also have to buy its services through an internet service provider like Northwestel. 

It also means the service can't be taken along to stay connected on a drive down the highway, or out to a camp on the land. 

OneWeb, through Northwestel, does sell "enterprise dishes" for purposes like those but it's for governments or firefighters, for example, not individual residents. 

N.W.T. government spokesperson Beau Stobbs said in an email that the government is "exploring the service" to understand if it's a viable alternative. 

As far as any other options, he said, "the [government] is not aware of other alternatives at this time".