OneWeb, the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications company, and Northwestel, northern Canada’s largest telecommunications provider, today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to expand remote mining, enterprise business and government broadband options in northern Canada.

The announcement follows the successful completion of OneWeb’s ‘Five to 50’ programme that has delivered the satellites required to bring OneWeb services to Canada, the UK and Northern Europe later this year.

As part of the agreement, the companies will collaborate on opportunities to deliver new connectivity services to remote mines, businesses and governments across Canada’s north using OneWeb’s low Earth orbit satellite backbone.

OneWeb continues to build momentum and execute the deployment of its network at pace and is seeing increasing demand from customers, particularly in remote locations. This agreement will allow the company to harness Northwestel’s significant experience, northern presence and resources in serving Canada’s northern territories.

OneWeb’s Chief Executive Officer, Neil Masterson, said: “OneWeb continues to make great progress as we prepare to launch service later this year north of the 50^th Parallel to reach vital but remote areas of the globe. 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. This is an exciting time for OneWeb as we continue to demonstrate momentum and the confidence that our business customers have in our services and offering.”

NorthwesTel President, Curtis Shaw, commented: “Northwestel is committed to bringing the very best technology to Northerners and this agreement with OneWeb allows us to provide improved broadband services to remote enterprises and governments using state-of-the-art low Earth orbit satellite technology. We look forward to providing innovative solutions for northern businesses to go along with our significant residential service improvements over the coming years.”