ONÁ:KE
Connectivity & Telecommunications Practice
Broadband readiness, radio propagation, fibre and repeater feasibility, and satellite transport, assessed before capital is committed.
The connectivity landscape for remote and northern communities has fundamentally shifted. While LEO satellite networks now make once-impossible links viable, resilient infrastructure rarely relies on a single bearer. The optimal architecture is almost always a multi-bearer hybrid designed around real-world geography and risk. Before comparing technologies or applying for capital grants, a community requires an objective, evidence-based baseline of its current state. Our connectivity studies deliver that precise foundation.
Connectivity Readiness Assessment
A comprehensive site-by-site inventory of existing infrastructure, real-world service performance benchmarking, and facility-level capacity requirements. This assessment generates the empirical documentation required to build defensible federal and provincial grant applications, such as the ISED Universal Broadband Fund, and to hold carriers accountable to their service level agreements.
Discuss a studyVHF & UHF Radio Propagation Modeling
High-resolution terrain and propagation modeling for land mobile radio (LMR) and community broadcast networks. We evaluate line-of-sight, path loss, Fresnel zone clearance, and RF interference to optimize tower locations and antenna elevations, verifying signal coverage before capital is committed.
Discuss a studyTerrestrial Fibre & Repeater Site Feasibility
A repeater site is an integrated facility, not merely an optical endpoint. We evaluate active and passive optical links alongside the complete physical site package: equipment shelters, off-grid solar and battery power systems, physical access routes, and land tenure and leasing frameworks. We treat telecommunications, power, and civil infrastructure as a unified system.
Discuss a studySatellite Broadband: Primary & Failover Architectures
Independent technical assessments of low-earth-orbit (LEO) constellations, including Starlink, Amazon Project Kuiper, and Canada’s Telesat Lightspeed, deployed as primary transport or redundant failover. We evaluate throughput, latency, weather attenuation, and total cost of ownership without vendor bias.
Discuss a studySatellite as a Data Sovereignty Framework
Routing community traffic over satellite infrastructure crosses networks, ground stations, and legal jurisdictions outside local control. Choosing between a foreign commercial constellation and a Canadian, sovereignty-focused network is fundamentally a governance decision. It dictates data residency, jurisdictional authority, and who retains access to community traffic. Our connectivity studies put these regulatory realities on the table, while our data governance practice provides the frameworks to secure them.
Core Deliverables
- Empirical baseline: existing infrastructure and real-world performance mapped against operational needs.
- Comparative options analysis: an objective, side-by-side technical trade-off matrix.
- Life-cycle TCO modeling: capital expenditures (CapEx) and long-term operational costs (OpEx).
- Actionable deployment roadmap: a phased execution plan.
- Funding-ready documentation: technical artifacts built to withstand rigorous grant evaluation.