The driver of a van that had struck a pedestrian was initially suspected of a hit and run, but police eventually concluded that he had left the scene of the accident to call for help, as he there was no cellular network there.
The cellular network is not always accessible in Nord-du-Québec.
Photo : Getty Images / Sean Gallup
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There are still several hundred kilometers of road that are not served by a cellular network in Nord-du-Québec.
Formerly there were telephone booths along the road, now there are no more. When we talk about development, we have to be able to provide safe environments for visitors and people who inhabit the territory.
, says René Dubé, president of the Baie-James regional administration and mayor of Matagami.
Do not wait for accidents to happen to react. When we talk about land occupation and habitation, that is one of the minimum services that the population and visitors must have, especially when we talk about northern development.
Better access to the cellular network would greatly help emergency services, admits the deputy director of the Abitibi-Témiscamingue emergency call center Robert Fortin.
The stronger the signal, the more precise the information we will receive in 911 will be because with the cell phone, when people call us, we receive the geographic position. Basically we have the caller’s GPS coordinates, he explains. But if the signal is weak, there is going to be greater uncertainty about the location of the caller.
Routes covered by the cellular network within three to five years?
A vast cellular network deployment project is underway by Eeyou Mobilité, a company created in 2019 by the Société Eeyou de la Baie-James, the Eeyou Communication Network and SSi Canada.
Abel Bosum, Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Crees of Northern Quebec, was the first to test Eeyou Mobilité’s technology in March.
Photo: courtesy
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Eeyou Mobilité is currently focusing on providing cellular service to Jamesian and Cree communities, but it also hopes to cover the roads in the territory within three to five years.
We are still talking about the construction of a large number of towers to cover 1900 kilometers of road throughout the region, so a horizon of three to five years seems realistic to us.
, specifies the general manager of Eeyou communication network, Cédric Melançon.
Eeyou Mobilité now wishes to obtain government assistance to finance this project, which exceeds $ 80 million.
Fortunately, we have already deployed optical fiber over most of the territory, so the fiber optic highway is already there to deploy this type of service, which is very facilitating, now it remains to build the cellular infrastructure: the towers , telecommunications shelters, radios, etc.
concludes Mr Melançon.
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