WHITEHORSE, YT – NorthwesTel is set to become 100% indigenous owned, pending the completion of a sale to Sixty North Unity
In a joint press release today, Sixty North Unity, a consortium of indigenous communities from across all three territories, announced their intention to purchase NorthwesTel from current owner Bell Canada, at a price tag of about 1 billion Canadian dollars. Bell has stated it intends to use the proceeds to pay down debt.
Upon completion of the sale, NorthwesTel will become the largest telecommunication service provider in the world that is fully indigenous owned
As it stands, NorthwesTel’s employee base and management team will remain the same, under the leadership of current president Curtis Shaw. The Corporate Headquarters and Operational HQ, will remain as they are in Whitehorse and Yellowknife respectively, as will the regional office in Iqaluit.
Sixty North Unity has said it has big plans for NorthwesTel, as they intend to open the door for more local investment and ownership opportunities for telecom infrastructure and communication projects in northern Indigenous communities. They will also be heavily investing in digital growth and connectivity in the north, with plans to double existing fiber speeds to 1-gigabit per second, and have committed to expanding high speed internet service to meet the CRTCs universal service objective beyond 97% of homes in the Yukon and Northwest Territories. They’ll also be investing in satellite technology serving communities in Nunavut and Northwest Territories, and will be investing a further 4-million dollars to build the Great Slave Lake Fiber Project.
The final sale is pending the completion of closing conditions, which includes a receipt of regulatory approvals.
