b'TECHNOLOGYARROW TECHNOLOGY GROUPA SNAPSHOTArrowTechnologyGroupwas foundedin2012followinga partnership agreement between Strategic Information Systems (SIS) and First Nations Technology ServicesAdvisoryGroup Inc. (TSAG). The companys mission statement is to provide quality consulting services to clients and to build capacity within First Nations for their participation in the technology business sector. Arrow Technology Group now provides broadband services to 73 communities in Alberta. The company is 51-per-cent owned by the First Nations of Alberta, and 90 per cent of its business The delivery of conduit that will provide fiber-optic internetisonFirstNationsandother services to 18 Indigenous communities in Alberta Indigenous communities.Fiber-optic internet, colloquially knownservice, and Arrow is currently workingWhile the scope is large, generally only as fiber, changes this. Rather thanon installing cables to six other commu- two- to four-man crews are required relying on metallic lines, fiber is made upnities, with construction to begin on ninein each community, allowing Arrow to of a bundle of hundreds of glass strands,more in 2023.construct cables in multiple communi-and data is transmitted through pulsesties simultaneously. The cables are dug of light, providing internet at blisteringOur goal is to provide every house- roughly three metres into the ground, speeds. Many large Internet Serviceholdinthesecommunitieswithaeither by direct burial or underground Providers (ISPs) have upgraded urban50-Mbps download speed connectionduct installation, and they traverse a centres in Canada with this new tech- with 10-Mbps uploads at a minimum,mix of landscapes, including forests, nology, but massive swaths of land inexplains Brayden Arcand, team leadmarshes and rivers. Once installed, a rural areas have been left out of thisand junior executive manager at Arrow.team of project managers, purchasers essential infrastructure upgrade. Once weve provided all households inand communication technicians make those communities with that, [we willthe final installations into homes. Arrow Technology Group, a majorityprovide] them with a year-round reli-Indigenous-owned ISP and IT solutionsable connection.DIGITAL PRIVILEGE company based in Edmonton, is under- The importance of high-speed internet taking their largest fiber-optic broad- cannot be overstated. In a post-COVID, band infrastructure project ever, madeThis ground-breaking project is theglobalized world, participation and prog-possible with funding from CIB. Oncelargest Arrow has undertaken in theress in Canadas economy is built on reli-completed, it will provide broadbandcompanys 12-year history and will addable high-speed internet. Commerce, internet to 18 First Nation communities335 kilometres of fiber cable within thehealth care and education in Canada are in Alberta. Three communitiesMontana18 communities. We are doubling ourbuilt on the foundation of internet access. First Nation, Duncans First Nation andfiber optic reach, Monica Burman, the Jean Baptiste Gambler First Nation companys human resources manager,In rural communities, however, access to have already been connected to fibersays on the scale of the project. high-speed internet is harder to come Aboriginal BUSINESS REPORT37'