Nunavut, Canada. Photo: Mike Beauregard, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.

OneWeb has signed an MoU with northern Canada telco Northwestel for broadband connectivity. Under the agreement announced Wednesday, the companies will work together to deliver new connectivity services to remote mines, businesses, and governments across Canada’s north using OneWeb’s Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation. 

Northwestel is the largest telecommunications provider in Canada’s north, and it serves 96 communities across Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, British Columbia and Alberta. The company is undergoing an initiative launched in 2020 to improve broadband services for residents, governments and businesses using fiber and LEO satellite technologies. 

“This partnership with Northwestel is more evidence that our network is an important element in bridging the last digital divides by providing high-quality connectivity services to those that need it most,” commented OneWeb CEO Neil Masterson. 

OneWeb said customer demand is increasing as it prepares to start service north of the 50th parallel in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Northern Europe later this year.