Page 54 - SAMENA Trends - December 2020

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Spacex Satellite Internet Starlink Being Tested in Remote Areas of Canada

Elon Musk's new satellite internet ser- the second the federal government con- several years to try to improve their con-
vice is being tested by some Canadians siders a standard minimum for broadband. nectivity. When he heard about Starlink,
in rural and remote parts of the country. At work, Kejick couldn't open large email Brown jokingly promised his staff he would
It's supposed to give them a good quali- attachments. He described the service directly contact SpaceX's Musk — who re-
ty, high-speed internet connection, but as "deplorable." At the end of November, cently surpassed Microsoft founder Bill
it's not cheap and some say the low-orbit Pikangikum became the first Indigenous Gates as one of the world's richest people,
Starlink satellites are ruining their view of community to get connected to Starlink, second only to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
the night sky. When Vernon Kejick got a with 60 dishes reserved for homes and Brown didn't reach Musk, but he did secure
first taste of Starlink satellite internet on businesses in the community in the ini- dozens of dishes for Pikangikum. FSET
the Pikangikum First Nation, his initial re- tial phase of installation, and potentially recently helped install the first batch. And
view was succinct. "All I can say is it's a another 40 by the end of December. Now, the result, Brown said, was better than he
lot faster than what I had before," he said. Kejick said his devices have been reaching expected. Starlink is "a wonderful thing,"
Kejick's response highlights a long-run- 144 megabits per second. Not only can he he said. "It's going to change the world
ning disparity that may finally have met a quickly download attachments, Kejick said for people." Across Canada, only 40.8 per
resolution. Starlink, the new high-speed his wife has finally been able to chat with cent of rural communities have access to
internet service provided by Elon Musk's relatives in the Philippines over FaceTime. adequate broadband, according to federal
U.S.-based SpaceX firm, and recently ap- "It's as if you're sitting in the same room," data. Greg Rekounas, a database admin-
proved by the CRTC, does have drawbacks. he said. In Pikangikum, however, Starlink istrator who has long worked from home,
It's expensive. And stargazers fear it will could offer more fundamental changes. said he contacted various service providers
ruin the night sky. But for users in rural and Kejick, a victim services advocate with the and could never find suitable broadband
remote areas who've long struggled to ob- Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, for his house on New Brunswick's Kings-
tain internet access on equal footing with said he hopes victims of crime will now ton Peninsula, near Saint John. The quality
Canadians in urban areas, Starlink is offer- be able to testify virtually, lessening the of his home connection suffered under the
ing hope. The service was recently made burden on them. Members of the remote strain of increased streaming and surfing
available to select users for "beta testing," Ojibwe community hope the faster inter- during the pandemic. So when he heard
with the promise of wider availability in net will remove barriers to access virtual about Starlink, he signed up in November
2021. In Pikangikum, a fly-in community healthcare services and education, too. to become one of the company's Canadian
of 2,800 residents in northwest Ontario, "It's doing everything that people are ask- beta testers. Rekounas received an email
Kejick said he'd become accustomed to ing it to do," said David Brown, CEO of FSET saying he'd been selected, and received
download speeds of only 2 megabits per Information Technology in Kenora, Ont. His the installation kit within days.
second — a fraction of the 50 megabits per firm had been working with Pikangikum for

China to Build Over a Million New 5G Stations Next Year

Chinese telecom carriers have managed to build more than 600,000
new 5G base stations this year, in addition to about 100,000 5G stations
built in 2019, said Wu Hequan, an academic at the Chinese Academy
of Engineering. The country’s telecom carriers are likely to build more
than a million new 5G base stations next year. That would bring the
total number of 5G base stations in China to more than 1.7 million by
the end of 2021, Wu told the China Daily. "As the construction of 5G
networks accelerates, the cost of building each 5G base station will
go down. Even if Chinese telecom carriers earmark the same amount
of 5G investments in 2022 as they have done this year, they can build
far more 5G base stations next year than this year," Wu explained. "I
believe Chinese telecom carriers will build more than one million 5G
base stations next year, though the specific construction targets will
have to wait for the telecom carriers' official announcements," he
added. According to him, 5G services are at the moment available in
all Chinese cities at prefecture level and above. China’s Ministry of
Industry and Information Technology said in October the country will
continue to build 5G networks "moderately” ahead of schedule.

54 DECEMBER 2020