SaskTel today announced it has expanded LTE coverage for the first time to 96 towers that serve the rural areas and communities of western and southeastern Saskatchewan (see the full list of upgraded towers in Appendix A). 

“Our government is aware of the importance of providing world class communications services throughout the province,” said Dustin Duncan, Minister Responsible for SaskTel.  “Today’s announcement marks a positive step forward that will improve the wireless service for a large number of our residents living in rural Saskatchewan.” 

“As the leading Saskatchewan based communications company we are committed to delivering advanced communications services to all residents of this province,” said Ron Styles, SaskTel President and CEO. “Over the past few months we’ve made great strides in expanding our LTE network throughout rural Saskatchewan and have nearly completed the expansion of LTE in the western portion of the province.” 

With LTE, SaskTel customers have the freedom to watch HD movies, stream music, share pictures and videos, and play games all at speeds that are up to 10 times faster than on 4G.  Furthermore, the deployment of LTE will lay the groundwork for future network enhancements, such as the introduction of Voice over LTE (VoLTE). 

The expansion of LTE 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. 

Added Styles, “SaskTel will continue to work until we’ve covered 99% of the population of the province with fast and reliable LTE wireless service.”  

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, 389,000 wireline network accesses, 273,000 Internet accesses and 111,000 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:

Greg Jacobs, SaskTel Manager of External Communications
Phone: 306.777.3433
Email: Greg.Jacobs@sasktel.com

Appendix A