The fastest network in Western Canada with Infinite Potential

SaskTel today announced that it is investing $1.8 million in a pilot project to upgrade the rural community of Rosthern to infiNET™, Western Canada’s fastest fibre optics network.  Construction will begin in the spring of 2017 and is expected to be complete by the end of the year.

“This is very exciting news for Rosthern,” said Dennis Helmuth, Mayor of Rosthern.  “infiNET will have a major positive impact on our community and will enhance the lives of our residents, open new opportunities for our businesses, and help attract newcomers to our town.”

“SaskTel has a proven track record of being a leader when it comes to emerging technologies and ensuring Saskatchewan people have access to world-class services,” said Minister Responsible for SaskTel, Dustin Duncan. “This most recent announcement illustrates SaskTel’s commitment to building world-class networks that enhance the quality of life for all Saskatchewan people, including those in rural areas.”

“This upgrade to our infiNET network will bring a whole new world of possibilities to the residents of Rosthern,” said Ron Styles, SaskTel President and CEO. “The lessons learned from this pilot project will help us determine the feasibility of bringing infiNET to more rural Saskatchewan communities in the future.”

SaskTel developed a comprehensive list of criteria and underwent a thorough selection process to determine the ideal community for the pilot project.  After careful consideration, Rosthern was selected as the optimal location predominantly due to its proximity to Prince Albert and Saskatoon, which will allow SaskTel to leverage existing Fibre To The Premises expertise and resources from both cities to aid the project.

infiNET offers HD programming and digital TV recording delivered to every maxTV set-top box in a home.

• Watch HD on up to 7 TVs
• Record up to 4 programs simultaneously with maxTV PVR
• Record a show on one TV and watch it later in another room
• Get more bundling options for maxTV™ with even faster Internet speeds
• maxTV infiNET customers can stream Netflix right on their maxTV set-top box

infiNET provides amazingly fast speeds – up to 260 Mbps downloading and 60 Mbps uploading – the fastest available in Saskatchewan.

• Upload and download data, movies, music, and more in a fraction of the time
• Stream HD movies, play games, and video chat without freezing, pixelation, or dropped connections
• Get unlimited downloading with no overage fees

This pilot project is part of SaskTel’s commitment to invest over $300 million in capital in Saskatchewan in 2016/17 and $1.4 billion through 2016-2021.  Investments like these will ensure that Saskatchewan will continue to receive some of the best communication and entertainment services in the world.

For more information, please visit sasktel.com/rosthern.

About SaskTel

SaskTel is the leading Information and Communications Technology (ICT) provider in Saskatchewan, with over $1.2 billion in annual revenue and approximately 1.4 million customer connections including 617,000 wireless accesses, 395,000 wireline network accesses, 272,000 Internet accesses and over 110,000 maxTV™ subscribers. SaskTel and its wholly-owned subsidiaries offer a wide range of ICT products and services including competitive voice, data and Internet services, wireless data services, maxTV services, data centre services, cloud-based services, security monitoring services, advertising services, and international software and consulting services. SaskTel and its wholly-owned subsidiaries have a workforce of approximately 4,000 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs). Visit SaskTel at sasktel.com.

For more information, please contact:

Michelle Englot, SaskTel Director of External Communications
Phone: 306.777.4476   
Email: Michelle.Englot@sasktel.com