Residents in some of the most remote areas of Canada can now access high speed internet thanks to SpaceX Starlink.
This week the company expanded their service coverage to include most of Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, making the satellite internet service now available through most of Canada.
According to SpaceX’s Starlink availability map, the service now extends as far north as Alert, Nunavut, which sits at latitude 82°30’05” north, just 817km (507 miles) from the North Pole.
Starlink service is still unavailable across the central latitudes of Canada however, although SpaceX say it expects to launch in these areas early next year.
The option to have high speed, low latency internet in these areas will be a welcomed addition for many residents, especially in Nunavut where there is currently no option for high speed internet.
One of the first Nunavut residents to sign up for Starlink is Marcus Pine, who was notified this week that the service is now available after pre-ordering earlier this year. “As soon as I heard about it, I was on it instantly,” Pine told Nunatsiaq News.
According to a 2020 report by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the territory is the only Canadian jurisdiction where there was no access to internet speeds higher than 25 mbps and above.
Recent tests from Ookla shows Starlink has a median download speeds in Canada far above that at 97.40Mbps.
It isn’t only Pine excited about Starlink service expanding into northern Canada as a local Facebook group has doubled in size since it became available this week.
