With the help of Quebec SpaceX, 10,000 homes will be connected to the high-speed Internet

Stephen Roland, Canadian Press

The Legault government will use the services of a company owned by Tesla founder Elon Musk to fulfill its promise to provide high-speed Internet access in less areas by the end of its mandate. 10,000 remote families will be connected by the service of the American company.

Gilles Pelanger, the prime minister’s parliamentary aide, high-speed Internet component, argued at a news conference that Starling’s low-orbit satellites, powered by SpaceX, are the best technological solution for connecting easily accessible homes through fiber optics. Sherbrook on Monday. He explained that due to their geographical distance, some families could not connect to the fiber optic network.

“The only solution to unite these orphaned families is the SpaceX solution. I have not made any contact with Elon Musk, I am making contact with the technical solution, which is very advanced.

If fiber optics were given priority if possible, homes connected to high-speed Internet via satellite would have a good connection, Mr. Belanger promises. Starling can offer download speeds of up to 100 megabits (MP / s), while connectivity is considered to be as high as 50 megabits / V. “Many times people will confuse the old high orbit satellite with the new low orbit satellite. There will be no problem with the quality of internet service,” he said.

So Quebec is providing $ 50 million to operate Starling’s satellite transfer service. The government hopes to connect 10,200 homes south of the 57th parallel by September 30, 2022. $ 9.5 million will be provided to target families to cover the full cost of receiving reception equipment.

The awarding of the contract to an American company raises questions, the official opposition leader Dominic Angled said, adding that he was unlikely to know all the details of the deal at a press conference. “We wanted to do business with people in Quebec. To understand the need to do business with this company when we have it in Quebec, this was the first question I asked the government.

Stephen Le Boonek, Associate Secretary-General of the Quebec Board of Directors, responded that local businesses should be given priority if possible. “We gave everything we could to Quebec and Canadian companies. Great players, but also small players.

A contest before the election

The Legault government predicts that 250,000 homes will have high-speed Internet access by the end of September, before its mandate expires. That number also includes 10,000 families connected by the Starling service

These families must have access to a connection with at least 50 Mbit / s download and 10 Mbit / s upload, unlimited data transfer capability.

Mr. Belonger wanted to start his contract with Starling a little earlier, but he says the conflict in Ukraine forced him to delay his plans for a few months. The U.S. company left the ability to the Ukrainian government, which needed satellites to defend itself against the Russian invasion. “I think delaying a few months is a good move on our part.”

The release of the interactive map on which we can track high-speed Internet usage across Quebec was announced on Monday. The map tracks the connection status for the address, municipality or region.

Quebec has set aside $ 1.3 billion to expedite the connection of remote areas.

At a press conference, Mr. Le Bouyonnec noted that approximately $ 1.1 billion has been confirmed, including the announcement on Monday. The federal government contributed approximately $ 470 million to this funding, bringing Quebec’s share to approximately $ 610 million.