MCA ANNOUNCES FIBRE-TO-THE-HOME PROJECT

The Mohawk Council of Akwesasne is pleased to announce that it has approved a $3.7 million project for the development and full implementation of fibre infrastructure in the district of Tsi Snaihne. MCA’s Dept. of Economic Development and Information Services Program are overseeing the project in collaboration with Ontario East, a project management firm. Construction will be underway throughout the next several weeks, and it is anticipated that the project will be fully operational in the district of Tsi Snaihne in 3-6 months.  

“Bringing fibre to the home is innovation and progression that’s been identified as a priority need for the community,” said Grand Chief Abram Benedict.  “We are committed to this project as this first phase will improve the connectivity of Tsi Snaihne residents, providing them with better access to the information and services they need, to be able to rely on their internet service for school and work, and to be better connected all around.  The project will later expand to the other districts as well.”

The community of Akwesasne will own and operate the fibre infrastructure within the Northern Portion of Akwesasne.  The conditions of the fibre infrastructure includes open access, meaning multiple Internet Service Providers have the opportunity to access the fibre to provide services to individual households and businesses at a competitive rate. The data speed is undetermined until the network is created; however, the goal is to support one gigabit per household.”

Over the next few weeks, contractors, sub-contractors, MCA employees and other various services will be in the District of Tsi Snaihne surveying and plotting out the construction.  Specifically, they will be surveying the ground infrastructure, referred to as locates, to ensure the pathway for the conduits will not interfere with any other infrastructure.  

Hired community members will also be conducting individual surveys to each household, businesses, and institution, to confirm your civic address and your confirmation to connect to the network.  

The first stage of construction includes directional boring, which is a low impact trenchless technique, specifically to install underground utilities. The reason we are doing underground conduits is due to the current poles being at maximum weight capacity and require full replacements to hang fibre.  In addition, due to inclement weather, it is more feasible to place the infrastructure underground to prevent any damage.  This part of the construction includes burying 24,500 meters of conduits for the backbone section of Tsi Snaihne. This means that the main road areas within the District are done first. Then the second phase includes the last mile, connecting fibre from the main roads to the individual households, businesses, and institutions.  

Additional announcements will be made as the project progresses, including information regarding the dates for household surveying.  

If you have any questions regarding the project, please contact MCA’s Dept. of Economic Development at 613-575-2250 ext 1802 or email: ecdev@akwesasne.ca.

 

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