Северо-западная телекоммуникационная компания: история и развитие

Canadian telecommunication company

Northwestel Inc. (stylized as NorthwesTel) is a Canadian telecommunications company that is the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) and long distance carrier in the territories of Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and part of Northern British Columbia. Originally established in 1979 by the Canadian National Railway from CN's northern telecommunications assets, it has been owned by BCE Inc. (formerly Bell Canada Enterprises) since 1988.

The earliest telephone service in Northwestel's present day operating territory was in Dawson City, established in 1899 just after the peak of the Klondike Gold Rush. However, that system was not linked into the North American phone network until the 1960s. Communications with the outside required the use of radio or radio telegraphy and did not connect with telephone lines. The independent company, Yukon Telephone Syndicate, was purchased by CN Telegraph (CNT) from Northern Light Power and Coal Company of England in 1962, and a dial telephone system was installed later in the 1960s to replace the 19th century magneto board. Robert W. Service was one of the few Dawson residents who could afford telephone service during his residence in Dawson prior to World War I. At least one other independent company was established in Whitehorse and was able to trace its service back to 1901. The Mayo Utilities Company was established in 1920 and provided telephone, electricity and water in Mayo and Elsa/Keno City, as well as Carmacks. It was sold in 1942, and the owner sold off the electric and water operations and joined it with the Whitehorse company to form the Yukon Telephone Company. The Royal Canadian Corps of Signals established long distance shortwave telegraphic communications stations in the north in 1923, prior to World War II. Their function was to enable the relay of telegraphic messages between them, as well as to and from the wired CN and CP telegraph networks in the south. From 1959 to March 1960, the stations were handed off to the federal Department of Transport. By 1972, they had become redundant to the fully developed CNT local and long distance telephone service, with access to the CN Telegram service via the telephone operator.

In 1943, the US Army completed the first terrestrial long distance system in the form of a pole line along the Alaska Highway. Components that normally took months to build were assembled in weeks. Although limited in capacity, the system after the war served as the backbone long distance network that linked Whitehorse with the south. It provided ringdown magneto phones to highway establishments. The US Army system was turned over on April 1, 1946, to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). In 1948, the RCAF turned it over to the federal Department of Transport (DOT), which contracted the operation to Canadian National Telegraphs (CNT).

Northwestel was established in 1979 by its owner, Canadian National Railways, spinning off the "northwest" operations of Canadian National Telecommunications (which is not to be confused with CNCP Telecommunications, a joint venture that CP Telegraphs and CN Telegraphs formed). The Newfoundland operation was, the same year, spun off as Terra Nova Tel (TNT). TNT was later purchased by NewTel Enterprises and merged with Newfoundland Telephone in late 1988. Northwestel was sold to Bell Canada Enterprises (parent of Bell Canada) on December 1, 1988. Since then, Northwestel has become a direct subsidiary of Bell Canada, although still regulated by the Canadian Radio television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) separately from Bell Canada, with its own method of regulation until 2007: rate of return. Northwestel, as of 2007, is regulated more closely like all other companies in Canada — price regulation and a split rate base — that is appropriate to the highly competitive environment in which they operate; Northwestel does not have a split rate base, however. On December 14, 2011, by way of Telecom Regulatory Policy 2011 711, the CRTC announced that the territory of Northwestel would now be opened to local competition beginning 1 May 2012. The company's original service territory was the entire Yukon, plus parts of northern British Columbia, and the western portion of the Northwest Territories, including the Kitikmeot communities of Pelly Bay (now Kugaaruk), Spence Bay (Taloyoak) and Gjoa Haven. On July 1, 1992, the service territory of Bell Canada in the NWT was purchased by Northwestel, bringing the entire north under a single company. Though technically regarded as an "independent company" through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s (it was not a member of the Trans Canada Telephone System or Telecom Canada), the last of seven actual independent companies within Northwestel's operating area were acquired by the company's predecessor CNT in 1964. A CRTC order in 2003 transferred a small section of Alberta, that had no telephone service, to Northwestel's operating area, as it could better serve the location from Fort Smith than could Telus due to isolation and network cost. Fort Fitzgerald residents initiated the process by appealing to the CRTC; service was installed at the end of 2005, delayed as the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo demanded ongoing access payments for installing the telephone lines, initially at a rate far in excess of the revenue that would be generated by a very small number of customers. The 2003 order had the effect of eliminating an anomaly Northwestel already had some customers in Alberta adjacent to Fort Smith, though not as far from Fort Smith as Fort Fitzgerald. In 2012 Northwestel complied with the CRTC's request for a network modernization plan, which resulted in considerable opposition from northern rival telecoms. In February 2013, Northwestel released a revised modernization plan, which president Paul Flaherty explained to the public. But the new plan was criticized by the government of Nunavut and Northwestel's largest competitor SSi Micro. Parallel to this, another regulatory process before the CRTC has been underway regarding the wholesale prices Northwestel is permitted to charge competitors for access to its fibre cable connecting the Northwest Territories to southern Canada. In March 2015, the CRTC ordered Northwestel to reduce residential Internet rates in the Northwest Territories, while a final decision regarding wholesale rates is still pending. In November 2023, Northwestel took control of telephone service in Atlin, British Columbia, following a purchase from the incumbent provider Telus. The local Taku River Tlingit First Nation had advocated for this change because of "jurisdictional issues" preventing the community from receiving Internet services from Telus. Northwestel assumed control over the Atlin telephone exchange on November 23, 2023.

Northwestel Cable is a wholly owned subsidiary of Northwestel. Originally approved by the CRTC to provide cable television in numerous communities across the north, the timing was poor as DTH satellite services became available; Northwestel Cable was unable to subscribe enough customers to make systems viable except in Norman Wells; the company also in 1995 purchased the Mackenzie Media cable system in Yellowknife, the Performance Communications Corp. system in Watson Lake and the Pangnirtung cable TV system. In 2005, Northwestel Cable purchased the Fort Nelson, British Columbia, system and upgraded it for digital and internet. In August 2006, the system in High Level, Alberta, was also purchased and is to be upgraded for digital cable and internet. In September 2007, Northwestel Cable took ownership of the WHTV Cablevision system in Whitehorse, and again, conducted upgrades. Northwestel introduced a form of cellular telephony in 1987 with the Aurora (Automated Roving Radio) system (400 MHz band) developed by Novatel and widely used in Alberta. It was available in limited areas, and although intended to replace most of the VHF manual mobile telephone service, the widespread deployment of cellular service (800 MHz band) across southern Canada rendered the Aurora system obsolete, despite Aurora's superior geographic reach. The Aurora system was manufacturer discontinued, and, not being Y2K compatible, was discontinued late in 1999. 800 MHz cellular technology was introduced in 1993, though with far less availability than Aurora in the Yukon and Northwest Territories. The cellular operations were, soon after, spun off as Northwestel Mobility Inc. (NMI Mobility). In 2003, NMI Mobility was sold to Bell Mobility, leaving Northwestel as strictly landline and VHF manual mobile provider. However, it appears to have been since re acquired by Northwestel. Northwestel was in a joint venture with the Dakwakada Development Corporation (an arm of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations) in Latitude Wireless, offering cellular service in parts of the Territories. Roaming was available between the Latitude and Bell Mobility networks. Latitude Wireless was merged with Bell Mobility in 2013.