Imagine not being able to contact your family and friends via text messages or social media on the internet with your mobile phone. Not being able to call them. Not being able to watch the latest news or sports on TV.
If you want news and information, KNR radio and Iridium are the only options. If you want to call your loved ones, you can pay 30 kroner per minute to use the municipal office's Iridium connection.
This is everyday life in the village of Qeqertat in Qaanaaq Fjord. Navarana Nielsen, who works in Pilersuisoq's shop in Qeqertat and is also responsible for medicine in the village, spoke to Sermitsiaq while she was in Qaanaaq and connected on her phone:
- We feel that we live very differently from the rest of the country, says Navarana Nielsen.
Tusass has confirmed to Sermitsiaq that this is the case.
- Qeqertat is not connected to Tusass' transmission infrastructure. Today, only an FM signal has been delivered to Qeqertat, writes the company's communications department.
Open-air service
According to Statistics Greenland, 25 people lived in Qeqertat on January 1st of this year. The population has been stable in recent years.
Navarana Nielsen works in Pilersuisoq's village store, and therefore she also helps people who want to withdraw money. Since there is no internet connection, payment cards cannot be used for purchases, and therefore cash must be withdrawn first.
- When someone wants to withdraw money, we go outside and call the bank in Qaanaaq via Pilersuisoq's iridium connection. We often have to call outside in the bitter cold, says Navarana Nielsen.
In winter, the weather is dark for several months without daylight, and it is also very cold. And if you want to connect via Iridium, you have to go outside, she says.
- It is very difficult to call. Sometimes the connection is interrupted again and again, so you have to wait a long time. It is very frustrating. The time we spend on Iridium in connection with work is very long. As an employee, it is stressful, she says.
30 kroner per minute
If the citizens of Qeqertat do not have Iridium themselves and want to contact people outside Qeqertat, for example their family or acquaintances, they can use Avannaata Kommunia's service center to call. But it is not cheap.
- I know that the service center has Iridium. It costs 30 kroner per minute to use it, says Navarana Nielsen.
Avannaata Kommunia confirms to Sermitsiaq that the use of Iridium costs 30 kroner per minute.
According to Tusass’ tariffs, it costs seven kroner to call from Iridium to a mobile phone. Tusass confirms this to Sermitsiaq. Thus, people in Qeqertat pay more than four times as much to the municipality as the municipality does to Tusass.
Hopeful
According to her, the villagers hope for better opportunities in the future.
- Of course, as residents of the settlement, we all want to be able to stay in touch with the outside world. I know that is everyone's wish, says Navarana Nielsen.
Use of Starlink
According to Sermitsiaq's information, some in Qeqertat use Starlink to access the internet. This is confirmed by several independent sources in the small settlement.
Starlink is a satellite-based internet connection, but the use of services that are not connected to Tusass is prohibited in Greenland. The legislation gives the self-governing company a monopoly, and therefore it is illegal to use Starlink in inhabited areas.
Sermitsiaq is trying to get an interview with naalakkersuisoq's representative for housing, infrastructure, outlying districts and emergency response, Iddimanngiiu Jensen Bianco (IA). She has declined an interview but has offered to respond in writing. An article about the matter will be published when naalakkersuisoq has responded to Sermitsiaq's questions.
