Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we cannot express it enough or emphasize it enough that cell phone service is greatly needed on Highway 3. Can the Minister commit to providing cell service between Yellowknife and Behchoko? Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister responsible for Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is over 12,000 kilometres of highways in Canada that don't have cell service, most of the highways in the Northwest Territories that don't have cell service, and while I recognize that this is the most travelled portion of highway, it is certainly not by any stretch a unique challenge faced in Canada or this territory or other territories or provinces. The costs of putting in cell towers and maintaining them is prohibitive at this time. We are certainly hopeful that with the increase of satellite services that that might assist with through technology to solve this problem. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I think she answered some of this already. And so what are the current actual financial commitments that GNWT has made to cover the annual operating costs of wireless and cell phone projects in the Tlicho?
Mr. Speaker, I certainly can say that there are costs, if I understood correctly, that we do cover the cost of having we do cover the costs of internet service for obviously all government services in the Tlicho. The operating costs for cellular on the highway, Mr. Speaker, as of, I think earlier this year, they were estimated at being at least $500,000 per year. That does not include costs for inflation; it does not include necessarily any costs if fuel continues to go up. And, again, that right now would be a minimum if that is what was sought. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Colleagues, before we continue, I'd like to remind Members and everybody to please turn the volumes and phones on silent, please. Thank you very much. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
Since Finance issued the expression of interest to address cell phone coverage along Highway No. 3 in February of 2021, what has been done to address this problem? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So back in February, as the Member's mentioned, there was a request for an expression of interest issued. The point there being let's try to get a sense of what the costs would be. We knew they would likely to be high. But certainly it's good to have an update with some concrete numbers. There was only one respondent to the expression of interest, Northwestel. And then a letter was written to support them when they went out as part of the process they undertook, they went out under the Universal Broadband Fund to see what kind of funding opportunities there might be within that from the federal government. With that information in hand, they had some information around capital costs and capital coverage. But for them to be any further involved, they would be looking for a fairly significant public sector commitment. At a minimum, it would include some portion a small portion of the capital expenditure but, as I just mentioned in my last response, more notably a commitment over the course of at least ten years for a minimum of $500,000 a year, again in today's dollars, not accounting for inflation, just to maintain services on that one small stretch of highway, which in and of itself would make not a dent on any other highway anywhere else in the Northwest Territories. And so at that point, Mr. Speaker, this is where the project is deemed not to be one that falls within the current priorities but, again, looking forward to what might happen technologically to get us to a different place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Monfwi.
Thank you. Can the Minister advise of any proposals for improving cell service along Highway No. 3 that they have received? Have there been further expression of interest or responses to the issue of GNWT sent to businesses in February 2021? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, not to my knowledge and, you know, and I expect that there wouldn't have been. I'm going back now somewhat in my memory now but there was early in early on I had spoken actually with proponents from Northwestel very early on in this stage, and it was quite clear to me that there's not a market case for this request. There's not a market for cell towers in this stretch of highway, even being the busiest. There's certainly not a market to cover the rest of the highways around the Northwest Territories or other rural remote regions all around Canada. And I again, Mr. Speaker, what we're hoping is that as some of the satellite options become available and satellite cell services are becoming satellite telephone services become available, this may be a direction that we can take to help improve coverage for across the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
