Today SaskTel announced that it is making significant strides to improve the broadband service in schools all across Saskatchewan since assuming the administrative responsibility for CommunityNet in April of this year.

To date SaskTel has met with and assessed the needs of all the school divisions that utilize CommunityNet in Saskatchewan.  Based on those assessments, SaskTel has completed network bandwidth upgrades in over 40 schools.  In addition, SaskTel will be upgrading all primary schools in the province to a minimum of 25 Mbps, a 250% increase from the previous minimum standard.  Primary and secondary schools are also eligible for further bandwidth improvements based on proven demand.

“As Saskatchewan’s leading communications company, we are committed to providing world class networks and advanced technology to the residents of this province,” said Ron Styles, SaskTel President and CEO. “We are pleased to assume the administrative responsibility for CommunityNet and play a role in the education and development of this province’s next generation of leaders.”  

CommunityNet connects educational facilities, schools, regional colleges, public libraries, health agencies, government departments and agencies into a private network, offering high speed broadband services to both urban and rural areas.  In February of this year, the Government of Saskatchewan announced a $3.4 million grant for continued bandwidth upgrades to the education portion of CommunityNet. 

Added Styles “SaskTel continues to actively develop new technologies which will allow for a more cost effective delivery of broadband services to schools across this province now and into the future.”

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 616,000 wireless accesses, 402,000 wireline network accesses, 267,000 Internet accesses and over 107,000 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