Netflix for north coast: High speed internet coming to coastal Labrador

High speed broadband internet is coming to the north coast of Labrador, MP Yvonne Jones announced Friday.

"It's a really good feeling to go to the communities and tell the people that they are going to get enhanced services in broadband," Jones said.

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The service is coming through partnerships with the Innu Nation, Nunatsiavut government, Vale, and Bell Aliant along with the provincial and federal governments.

"This was a huge issue during the federal [election] campaign for myself and for Randy Edmunds as the MHA," Jones said.

Providers are ready to begin work on highspeed broadband internet for the the north coast, and services could potentially be up and running by the end of the year.

"They will have a faster access to the internet. They will be able to livestream.They will be able to watch Netflix," Jones said.

"For businesses it will mean that they will be able to process payments, and interacpayments at a much more rapid rate."

'Skyping by Christmas'

The federal government is investing $5 billion across the country into broadband internet services.

The investment should secure bandwidth for the next seven to 10 years, with fibre opticsthe long term goal.

"No one this day in age, no matter where you live should not have access to the social media, to the World Wide Web," said Jones.

"I'm hoping that come Christmas you're going to be able to sit back and do some good Skyping with family and be able to work from home," Jones said.

Meanwhile on the south coast of Labrador, theupgrade is planned to go directly to fibre optics.Nalcor will be bringing a fibre opline from Happy Valley-Goose Bay to the south coast as part of the Muskrat Falls project.

That line will be available in 2017 and negotiations are in the works to connect to it, to upgrade services for the public.