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SaskTel bringing next generation IPTV to rural Saskatchewan

SaskTel bringing next generation IPTV to rural Saskatchewan

March 29, 2017

SaskTel today announced that it has signed an agreement with Ericsson, a world leader in communication technology and services and one of the leading providers of TV and media products and services, to adopt the Ericsson MediaFirst solution suite to transform maxTV™. Ericsson MediaFirst will provide SaskTel with the ability to introduce next-generation IPTV and media enhancements that will improve customer experience and allow SaskTel to continue to evolve maxTV. Starting in 2018, SaskTel customers can expect to see new MediaFirst enabled services and features that will provide the best in-home and on-the-go TV experience.

Ericsson MediaFirst will also provide SaskTel the ability to expand a new version of IPTV services into rural Saskatchewan. As a result, SaskTel anticipates that it will be able to bring IPTV service to nearly 100,000 new households spread across more than 300 communities in rural Saskatchewan shortly after the new TV platform is launched. The full list of features will be announced at launch.

“This new platform will position SaskTel at the leading edge of TV innovation and will afford us the flexibility to evolve maxTV as our customer’s preferences and habits change over time,” said Ron Styles, SaskTel President and CEO. “In addition, this new platform will allow us to bring our IPTV services to thousands more rural residents, providing them with a cutting-edge television experience and the opportunity to save even more by bundling this new IPTV service with their existing SaskTel cellular, Internet, home phone, long distance, and home security services.”

Elisabetta Romano, Vice President and Head of Media Solutions at Ericsson, added: “Ericsson MediaFirst will enable SaskTel to deliver a cutting-edge Pay TV service. The ability to innovate at web speed and leverage the MediaFirst ecosystem will help SaskTel deliver breakthrough consumer experiences across all devices and in the home. This agreement is a further step forward in our strong partnership with SaskTel.”

This enhancement is part of SaskTel’s commitment to invest $1.4 billion in capital in Saskatchewan 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.

Ericsson’s end-to-end MediaFirst solution suite includes Ericsson MediaFirst TV Platform, Video Processing, Video Delivery and Video Storage and Processing Platform (VSPP).Ericsson MediaFirst TV Platform is a software-defined, media-optimized cloud-based TV platform. MediaFirst TV Platform provides a converged multiscreen experience including Pay TV in-home, TV Everywhere and OTT services. It embraces all content sources and delivery networks. MediaFirst Video Processing offers virtualization in content exchange, distribution and software-defined live UHD encoding. MediaFirst Video Delivery provides a comprehensive solution that addresses every stage of the media delivery chain - including Ericsson VSPP - which is ideal for time-shifted services including cloud DVR.

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.

About Ericsson

Ericsson is a world leader in communications technology and services with headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden. Our organization consists of more than 111,000 experts who provide customers in 180 countries with innovative solutions and services. Together we are building a more connected future where anyone and any industry is empowered to reach their full potential. Net sales in 2016 were SEK 222.6 billion (USD 24.5 billion). The Ericsson stock is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm and on NASDAQ in New York. Read more on www.ericsson.com.

For more information, please contact:

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

Lynne-Mei Lee, External Communcations Director, Media, Ericsson
Phone: +447590773646
Email: Lynne-Mei.Lee@ericsson.com