SaskTel investing $4.6 million to improve wireless service in rural Saskatchewan
On June 7 SaskTel announced plans to invest approximately $4.6 million to significantly improve the data capacity of 37 towers serving rural Saskatchewan by the end of March 2019.
The full list of towers includes: Alida, Assiniboia, Carry the Kettle Nakoda Nation, Bredenbury, Big River, Caron, Caronport, Carrot River, Denholm, Davidson, Flaxcombe, Fort à la Corne, Gull Lake, George Gordon First Nation, Griffin, Hudson Bay, Harris, Île-à-la-Crosse, Kelvington, Kerrobert, Lestock, Meadow Lake, Melville, Naicam, Netherhill, Oungre, Onion Lake, Outlook, Outram, Plenty, Pinehouse, Preeceville, Rocanville, Sandy Bay, Shaunavon, Strasbourg, Wollaston Lake. “SaskTel is fully committed to providing the people of Saskatchewan with fast and reliable communication services,” said Don Morgan, Minister Responsible for SaskTel. “When SaskTel invests in network improvements like these, they are enhancing the ability we have to connect with each other and the world around us.”
Through this investment, SaskTel will add more LTE carriers to each of the 37 towers, increasing their LTE data capacity by up to 100 per cent. This added capacity will ensure that customers can continue to fully utilize their wireless devices without being slowed down by network congestion. “Year over year, the demand for wireless service continues to grow at an astonishing pace,” said Doug Burnett, SaskTel Acting President and CEO. “Through strategic investments, we are able to stay ahead of the ever-growing demands on our network while continuing to plan for future enhancements.” In recent years, SaskTel has completed a number of initiatives to enhance the wireless network in Saskatchewan. Most notably, in 2016/17 SaskTel in- vested over $11 million to expand LTE service to 99 per cent of the population of the province. These network improvements are part of SaskTel’s commitment to invest approximately $310 million of capital in Saskatchewan in 2018/19 and over $1.4 billion over the next five years